For Eternity
by writingzeaL
Summary: SasuSaku.AUOOC. He's the high school big shot and she's the school's ms. perfect. They're lives change drastically when they are forced to spend time together. A story of the ups and downs of life, love, friends, family and their secrets.
1. Big Shot Meets Miss Perfect

_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 1: Big Shot Meets Miss Perfect**

"It's a piece of cake. Don't sweat it." He patted the nervous boy on the shoulder for encouragement. The three of them walked silently up to the side of the school building. Through the darkness, a glimpse of the ventilation shaft could be seen. "So, remember," He shoved him closer to the vent. "The teachers lounge is the third passage to the left."

"Wait, are you sure the vent is strong enough to hold me up?" The teenage boy quaked at the fear of falling.

"Of course! Trust me I've done this before. Now here," he handed him some rope. "We'll hold onto this end of the rope. Just tug when you need us."

"Yeah, and make sure you come out with the papers!" The blonde exclaimed.

"Naruto!" His companion hissed. He hit him in the head in the process. "Now's not the time to be the kid with the biggest mouth."

"Ouch, what the hell was that for Teme! Frik," he rubbed his sore head.

"Gee, I wonder?" Sasuke turned to the boy with a grin. "Ready?"

"I still don't know—"

"What if I just go with you?" Naruto suddenly turned to Sasuke and snickered. "See, Naruto agrees. You'll be fine with me, got it? Let's get going!" Sasuke took off his large vest and offered the other teen to go first. "I insist." The boy disappeared into the vent.

"Hey, Dobe, you sure Shikamaru and Shino did it?" Naruto's eyes glimmered with amusement. "Yeah, duh." Sasuke nodded, "Alright, get ready for some laughs man. Go to the window already!"

"'Kay," they gripped hands together in a strong hold. "You're still the bad ass." Naruto winked and ran off.

There was a squeal from the vent. "Sasuke? Are you there? It's dark and there are spiders and rats and I'm…" the boy continued to mumble.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah I'm comin' in." He chuckled to himself. "This one has a heart of a lion alright." He hopped up into the vent.

As he went in, the vent squeaked and shook with every crawling step. The only light came from the entrance. Already, Sasuke could see cobwebs in the corners and small mice skittering here and there. Nonetheless, he continued on with a fat smirk on his face. "Okay, take a left here."

"But if we go over there, the light is going to disappear and we won't be able to see anything and," he kept rambling on and it was getting on Sasuke's nerves.

"Look, you wanna be part of our group or not?" he waited as long as he could for an answer. "I-I…yeah but," he answered quietly. "Well, just shut up and go on. We're already in this far, no turning back now." He heard a gulp as he continued on. _'Great, a little bit more,'_ Sasuke thought, intently waiting for the right moment—

_Crack! Bang!_

And there it was—music to his ears. He saw his comrade fall through the vent, down into the teacher's lounge, the rope dragged in with him. He cracked up, his laugh echoing through the metal. Shikamaru said he had cut the metal earlier that night specifically for this event. Shino helped him break into the school so for sure Sasuke could get out with ease, excluding the idiot they tricked into coming with them. He was there as a cover up.

Sasuke jumped down from the vent, falling over as soon as he landed because of laughter. "Man that was good." He looked over to the window and saw his friends laughing hysterically. _'Right, the test answers.'_ He got up and walked to the storage room.

With no difficulty, he came back out with the papers in hand. "Hey, get up. Thanks for showing me the way in. I didn't think it was going to break though." Sasuke chuckled. There was silence. "No chickening out. We've gotta get out of here before the janitors see us," still no answer. He started to get nervous. He ran over to where they landed. "Get up—" he accidentally kicked a chair, causing it to fall over, creating a loud crash.

"What was that? Who's in there?" There was a light shining through the window accompanied by foot steps that grew closer and closer.

"Crap!" he turned his attention back to the boy and shook him vigorously. "Hurry, I think someone saw us." Then he finally noticed. The boy was unconscious and blood was seeping out of his skull. He even got some of the sticky red liquid on his hands during the procedure.

The doorknob was shaking and Sasuke could hear keys clattering. "Shit," he hissed. He put his ear hastily to the boy's mouth. "Good he's still breathing." Then he checked for his pulse. The boy moaned, nearly regaining consciousness.

The window opened and Naruto's head popped out. "Teme! Hurry your ass up here!" Sasuke took the papers and ran to the window.

"Help me up!" They hooked arms and he immediately got blood all over Naruto's jacket. Naruto dragged Sasuke up as fast as he could. As soon as his feet were out, the door slammed open and the light scanned through the whole room.

"Run!" Shikamaru yelled.

Two policemen came out of their car as soon as they heard yelling. They always patrolled that area, having had minor crimes happen there often. All of the guys noticed the police except for Sasuke. _'Frik, he's injured. I have his blood all over me. How am I going to explain that?'_

He ran straight through. He was knocked out of his thoughts as soon as a club came in contact with his left arm. "Ah!" The swing was hard and fast, shock taking over Sasuke's body. He nearly fell over, avoiding another swing as quickly as he could. He ran in the opposite direction from his friends. He figured that the police didn't notice them yet.

Sasuke ran swiftly but blindly through the thick forest that was just beside their school. Suddenly, a policeman came and swung at Sasuke, hitting him in the same spot on the same arm. He yelled in pain but kept going. He grasped his arm, feeling the pain soak through his body. But soon, without warning, he fell into the stream landing on his left side.

Groaning, he tried to get up but his ears rung and a sharp piercing feeling could be felt on the side of his head.

"He's down there!" The policemen came running after him.

By now, Sasuke was soaking wet. _'Good the blood washed off.'_ He tried to use his left arm to get up but he ended up screaming and falling back into the water. He felt handcuffs encircle his wrists.

"Get off me, frikken cop!" he jerked trying to escape but to no avail. He was caught.

* * *

"I found this outside the vent." Naruto handed Sasuke his vest. Sasuke took it with a mere nod as thanks.

"So, what happened? Did he just back out or something. He never got back up." Shikamaru questioned. "And you broke your arm too? Geez man, I think you're losing your touch."

"Yeah, I heard all about it." Kiba screwed the lid back on his soda. "Can't believe he chickened out."

Naruto didn't look so good about it though. "Sasuke about the blood," he started out but couldn't continue. He wanted Sasuke to explain.

"He probably hit his head on one of the tables when he fell. I remember seeing a shiny substance on its surface." Sasuke said it so coolly that the guys didn't know if he regretted getting the guy to go or not. "I checked though, he was still alive so it's not like we killed anyone. We just banged him up a bit."

"Look who's talking? You broke your arm, dim-wit." Shikamaru pointed out, earning a glare from the Uchiha.

"But did you see how he fell!" Naruto couldn't hold it in. He just had to point it out. All of them broke into laughter except for Kiba.

"This is what you get when you have a girl tutor at your place." They all stopped laughing for a split second to hear what Kiba had to say, but soon laughed even harder.

Naruto broke out of his laughter slowly as he saw two familiar girls walk by. He whistled out to the girls. Sasuke looked up and saw that it was Sakura. He hated her, she hated him. Ever since elementary they haven't had a decent conversation, but now that they were in their last year of high school, they despised the mere fact that the other existed. _'Great and Ino's with her too.'_ He thought.

Both of the girls turned their way. Ino fumed upon hearing Naruto's whistle. She stomped over while Sakura just rolled her eyes in annoyance at the boys.

"Naruto don't tell me that was you." Ino grabbed onto his collar. Naruto put his hands up in defence. "Even though you're in a skirt, I still wouldn't do that." She stared him down and he began to break. "Wasn't me, it was the dog boy." Ino tightened her grip on his shirt. "Don't lie to me you two faced ass hole." Sasuke knew deep down, Naruto was terrified of Ino. "I swear! It was him." She made a motion to punch him in the face. "I'm not joking around. Please don't hurt me." He whimpered.

Sasuke, who was right next to him, chuckled. "Hey Naruto," everyone looked over to him, including Ino and Sakura. "You dropped something."

Naruto looked down. "What?"

"You're pride."

Naruto glared at him, ready to strangle the life out of him as Sasuke continued to laugh. Ino snickered and let him go, shoving him back. Ino grabbed the empty plastic soda bottle that Kiba drank out of and threw it at him. "Morons."

The girls spun around and began to walk away.

Sasuke was having too much fun to let it just slip away. As soon as the girls turned around, he got out of his chair and whistled.

"Ohh…" the boys sat there waiting to see what would happen. Both girls stopped again. Ino was about to turn around when Sakura interrupted. "Let me do this."

She walked towards him slowly. Sasuke began to imitate Naruto. "Don't hurt me! Ah, I'm such a whimp. Don't kill me! Look I'm a pansy." Sasuke felt a bottle hit him in the back, but nevertheless he laughed to himself.

Sakura was obviously annoyed but then her face turned into a calm and sweet one. Sasuke looked at her dead in the eye. Their faces were only a few inches apart. "Oh Sasuke," she said sweetly. "Yes cherry blossom?" he teased, having a grin plastered onto his face, apparently enjoying himself. "You dropped something." She stuck her palm out faced upward. "What?" he looked at her hand. "Your pride." Out of nowhere, she slapped him hard across the face, leaving a visible red mark in its place. "Karma's a biotch ain't it?" She turned and walked away accompanied by Ino.

Once again, the boys cracked up. "Oh man, Sasuke you got hit bad." Kiba said between breaths.

"I'll get her back, just watch." Sasuke still couldn't believe the girl hit him. Even Ino looked surprised. He knew he had a fan club at the school, and if any of them saw that, he was sure they would've attacked Haruno right then and there. But, he was glad they didn't. _'Two can play at that game Sakura.'_ He grinned with amusement.

* * *

"You break into the school late at night, vandalized school property, and stole confidential papers!" Tsunade, the principal, paced in her office while Sasuke sat in a chair seemingly paying attention.

_'How many times do I have to go through this?'_

"How many times do you have to go through this?" he was snapped back to reality. "You're grades aren't exactly failing, they're about average or so I've heard and yet you act this way. Why?" she interrogated further. "Is it because of those friends of yours? Naruto can be a bad influence. In fact, they were probably involved in this too weren't they?"

"With all due respect ma'am," he stood up and pocketed his right hand, his only free hand. "I would just like to take my suspension sentence and get out of here." He was about to turn and walk towards the door but then, he heard it open, so he kept still.

One of the teachers came in. "She's here ma'am."

"Good, please bring her in." Tsunade took this time to sit down in her chair and take a breather.

Sasuke was interested in who the principal brought in so out of curiosity, he turned around. His onyx eyes met, once again, with green ones. _'What the hell?'_

He saw it on her face as well—she was just as confused as he was.

"Ah yes, Miss Haruno, please come in. I'm sure you know Mr. Uchiha here."

"Yes, I do ma'am." She walked far enough so that she was standing side by side with Sasuke.

"Miss Haruno? Please meet you're new lackey, so to speak."

Both teenagers looked at their principal with disbelief. Noticing at how quiet the two were, she looked at them expectantly. "Why, is there a problem with that?" They looked at each other. Sakura's eyes bore hatred whereas Sasuke's bore amusement. "None at all, ma'am." Sasuke looked at Tsunade. Sakura turned her attention to the principal as well. She was bewildered, much less angered.

"Splendid." She clasped her hands together and began to list few things for Sasuke to remember. "Now first, you must help with the senior girl's volleyball team this year. Secondly, you will help with the student council, and thirdly you will be rehearsing with the drama club. Furthermore," she looked at him. "She will be your tutor."

Sakura just couldn't take it all in. "W-what?" she finally spoke up. "This will be added to your graduation portfolio, Miss Haruno. Plus, I will add a special funding to the school's athletic department for the senior girl's volleyball team as thanks." She turned towards Sasuke for a last few words. "It's your last year of high school, it's time you started trying out different things and meeting new people, young man. Now off you go you two." Without another word, they both walked out as fast as they could, not wanting to stay in there any longer.

As soon as the door closed, Sakura spun around and faced him. "What do you think you're doing?" she hissed.

Sasuke backed off with a grin. "What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? Why did you agree? You and I both know we don't want this to happen." She put her hands on her hips waiting for his answer.

A few seconds later, "It gives me something to do," he answered finally. "You know, hanging around the Dobe can get a bit boring. They do the same stuff everyday anyways."

She groaned and stormed off.

All of the staff members looked towards him, wondering what had happened. They were still in the main office after all. "I didn't do anything, I swear." Everyone turned back to their work.

'_This is going to be fun.'_ He walked out into the awaiting sunlight.

* * *

**This idea was bugging me the whole time I was in that tent...with no computerrr!! I think I'll go far with this one...as for the other ones, i'm sorry i haven't gotten to those yet. but it's my summer break, who knows, i might be able to update a few. don't forget to review!! thannkkss.**

**- --writingzeaL**


	2. And So It Begins

_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 2: And So It Begins**

_Tweek!_

"Everyone gather!" Gai announced to all of the senior girls in the gym. It was after school and Sakura was itching to hit something hard. _'It's bad enough I have him in my English class,'_ she thought, tying up her hair into a bun. _'Now I have to see him wherever I go?'_

"Sakura! Partners!" Ino ran to go get a ball as Sakura nodded.

"Okay ladies, you know the drill. Get warmed up." Gai said.

Ino and Sakura began to pass the ball back and forth. "So, why did Tsunade call you to her office? Knowing you, it probably wasn't anything you did." Ino began. She noticed how aggressive Sakura was being and it was only their warm up. "Sakura?"

"What? Oh, sorry, did you say something?"

"Okay! Pass, set, hit!" Gai said after he blew his whistle once more.

"I said, what happened in the office? You missed the best cooking class ever."

"It was okay, nothing too special," Sakura took the ball and tossed it to herself, preparing to hit the ball towards Ino. She was ready but then Sakura unexpectedly hit the ball a bit hard. The ball went straight for the ground. Soon the ball bounced back up at an incredible speed, just missing Ino's ear.

"Sorry! Ino are you okay?" Sakura ran to her.

Ino looked shocked for a moment but then shook it off immediately, not wanting to be embarrassed too much. "Sakura, something bad happened in the office, huh? I can tell you know."

"No really, I just have to—"

The main gym doors opened. Everyone turned to the door only to see Sasuke and Naruto walk into the gym. "Ah, Mr. Uchiha, you're finally here." Gai motioned for them to come in. "I heard from Tsunade. So, here is what you'll have to do," Gai took him by the shoulder and toured him around the jobs that he was to do.

"Seeya later, Dobe." All the while, all of the girl's in the gym began to whisper and squeal like the typical teenage girl.

"Why is Sasuke here?" Ino asked, but she obviously loved it. Sakura knew that all the girls had a thing for him. She would admit he was cute but she just hated him, end of story.

"Yeah, about that," she was about to explain when Sasuke spotted her. He got away from Gai and walked towards her. "Great…" She turned her frown into a sweet forced smile. "I know you have to help but why today?" she strained through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, orders are orders." He scoffed.

"You know what? I think you're doing this on purpose, Uchiha." Once again, she got up in his face, but he didn't back down. "What makes you say that?" he challenged. "You probably didn't want to get suspended so you just took the easy way out." She explained, crossing her arms over her chest. "You've gotta be kidding me. I'd take suspension any day. A week without school would be great." He answered back knowing that he had the advantage in the argument. "Then why didn't you just do that?" she was getting pissed at how smug he was acting.  
"Mr. Uchiha, please come over here and help set up the nets. Lee will help you."

"Got it, coach." He waved over, indicating that he got the message. He brought his attention back to the pink-haired girl. He walked forward and put his face close to hers. She blushed, feeling a little bit uncomfortable with so many people around. "I still owe you for that slap, Haruno." He whispered and then he jogged over to Gai.

Sakura was left there with a red hot face. It was either she was blushing a lot or she was extremely mad. All of the girls, including Ino, look at her with astonishment. Ino snapped out of it. "Sakura, I think the girls are looking for blood." They looked around seeing raging eyes. "You're right. Come with me to the change room for a sec, will you?" Sakura grabbed her best friend's arm and practically dragged her to the change room.

As soon as the door closed, Sakura sighed with relief. _'Practice is just starting and I'm already in deep—"_

"…the only girl that he's ever done that too."

"Huh?" Sakura was confused. She didn't quite hear what Ino had said.

"Is that why you were all uptight? Is it because of him? But wait a minute, why is he here?" Ino was getting very interested in the subject.

"Well, Tsunade kind of…forced him to stick around me." Sakura looked at Ino for her reaction. Seeing as she didn't get one, "I mean, you know like hanging around other people. She wants him to experience other things besides the stuff he does with Naruto because he's always getting into trouble. And of course that would be bad since he is one of the Uchihas. He's gotta have a good record, not that he's having any luck with that." She took a deep breath in, not realizing that she had used all of her lung capacity.

"So she made him your boyfriend? Can she do that?" Sakura blushed furiously.

"Not a boyfriend! More like…"

"Stalker?"

"No!"

"Some who tails?"

"What? No!"

"How about your shadow?"

"Ino! Stop it. He just has to stick around me for the next couple of weeks so that he can work out the hours he needs for the stuff he did."

"What did he do?" Ino asked curiously.

"I don't know, Tsunade never told me." After a while they were silent, hoping that it was safe to go outside. Ino was the first to get up and walk to the door. "You know for a second I thought he was going to kiss you! Man I'm so jealous!" Ino stuck her tongue out playfully and ran out screaming. "Ino!" A tomato-faced Sakura ran after her.

* * *

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Sakura bid farewell to her fellow team mates as she grabbed her stuff and began to walk towards the exit. It was finally the end of practice and she was glad to get out of there. _'That wasn't so bad. At least he didn't bug me during practice. He was too busy.' _She smiled to herself. _'I can't believe I'm saying it but thank you Gai.'_

As soon as she got out she noticed that it was raining. "What! I don't even have an umbrella!" She threw on her only hood. "And home is like what fifteen minutes away?" she put her messenger bag over her shoulder and she crossed her arms over her chest, hunching her shoulders indicating that the rain was freezing.

"Sakura!" she looked over her shoulder to see one of the kids she helped in math. "I gave the math book you lent me to Ino." He yelled over the rain. "Okay! Thanks for telling me. See you." Sakura replied and continued to walk in the rain towards home.

"Sakura!" she looked back once more and this time she saw the student council president. She walked over to her also without an umbrella. "I just wanted to tell you, we have a meeting about the up coming school dance tomorrow during free period in the science wing of the school." Sakura nodded. "Okay, I'll be there. See you tomorrow." With that she ran off to get to a drier place, leaving Sakura once more.

"Hey, Sakura," she was getting a bit annoyed at how people wouldn't just leave her alone.

"Look I—" she interrupted herself upon seeing Sasuke before her, holding an umbrella over her head. She instantly creased her eyebrows and went back to walking home.

Sasuke ran over to her to cover her with the umbrella again. "Whoa, wait. You're going to get wet." When he ran, the part of his jacket that was over his sling flew off. Only his right arm was in the jacket.

"Look Sasuke, if this is one of your jokes again I swear," she began, but then she noticed that he was too busy to listen to her. He was trying to get the other part of his jacket back on. Since his left arm was in a cast and his right hand was holding the umbrella, he was having a difficult time. Sakura soon started to giggle softly.

Sasuke looked up. "Shut it, Haruno." Then he continued the tricky task of getting his jacket. Sakura just shook her head. She went over to him and grabbed the jacket, placing it back on his shoulder. She looked back at him still giggling. "There." Their eyes locked on to each other's and her hands rested on his left arm, unnoticed. They stood there for a while forgetting about their surroundings.

'_He is cute.'_ She thought. _'Especially when he's smiling and even when—whoa wait a minute! What am I saying?'_

"Sakura!" they both suddenly broke their eye contact and looked down, suddenly finding the floor very interesting. Sakura swiped her hands away and crossed them over her chest, quite obviously it being a habit of hers. "Sakura?" She looked up to see Ino holding her favourite umbrella.

"Ino! Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I just came to give you your math book back. Some kid gave it to me." Ino said unsurely, at the same time wondering what was going on. "Am…I interrupting something?" she grinned evilly.

"Um, no nothing really, I was just going." She took the text book and began to walk the same way she was going before she was intercepted continuously.

"Hey, wait!" Sasuke came running over to her again covering her with his umbrella.

"What are you doing? I'm going home already." He stepped in front of her. "Well I'll have to bring you home, teacher." He smirked.

"Huh? Teacher?" she looked so confused that Sasuke just chuckled. "You're my tutor remember?"

"Hey, guys I'll leave you two alone." She giggled at Sakura's reaction. "Later." Ino walked away quickly to avoid Sakura's glare.

"So, let's head back to your place. You can start with math since you've got your book back."

"I am never going to get away from you, ugh." She stomped off, having Sasuke follow with the umbrella over her. "You're going to get wet you know." He laughed. She tightened her fists. "Why would you care?" she didn't even look back.

"Okay." He said rolling his eyes. She failed to notice a car coming. He was about to warn her but thought twice about it. "Haruno," he said catching her attention, stopping her in her tracks. "What?" Then the car zoomed by a huge puddle. She got soaked with dirty water. Sasuke laughed and she went over to him and hit him in the head. "Idiot!" she yelled.

* * *

"Okay, let's try this again." Sakura was sitting next to Sasuke on the floor. They used the long coffee table as a desk. She had changed into drier clothing and took out her notebooks and writing utensils out, immediately hitting the books. "So when you have to differentiate y which is equal to the square root of 13x squared minus 5x plus 8, you'll have to—"

"Ugh," Sasuke let his head fall back onto the couch. "My head hurts. Stop it already." He sighed and closed his eyes. He relaxed everything and put his pencil on the coffee table. It was as if he was sitting in a reclining chair.

Sakura just groaned and put down her stuff too. She climbed up onto the couch and sat cross-legged. She grabbed the television remote and began to flip through the channels. "Okay fine, maybe just a break."

Sasuke slightly opened one of his eyelids and peeked up at Sakura. She was wearing dark blue plaid sweats that were a bit long for her so they hid her toes. She also had a large grey zip of sweater with sleeves reached passed her finger tips. To top it all off, she had a messy high ponytail._ 'Cute_.' He thought.

'_Huh? What?'_ he shook his head and got up. "I'm going to use the washroom for a sec."

"Ew, yeah yeah, too much information. Just go." She just shooed him off as she continued to flip through channels.

Sasuke went down the hall out of her sight. _'Whoa, okay what the hell am I thinking? Snap out of Uchiha.'_ He looked through the shelves and saw pictures of Sakura. There was one that caught his eye. It was her picture with Hinata and Ino at the park. They were all bunched together for the shot but it looks like Naruto jumped in and made everyone fall over. He could see himself in it, laughing at Naruto.

He remembered that. It was the time when Sasuke and the gang wanted to mess with the girls. It was a hot day and they were bored to death. He chuckled at the memory. _'Sakura's not all that bad…well not as bad as I thought she would be.'_

He saw some baby pictures and pictures of her when she was in elementary and even some from junior high. "She has so many pictures." He was quite surprised to see himself in some of them. He never remembered ever getting his picture taken. Because he couldn't remember, they intrigued him so he continued to look.

He didn't notice that he had been gone for quite some time. "Oh, crap."He made his way back to the living room. "Sorry, I was…" he quieted down a little bit. His eyes softened as he looked at Sakura who fell asleep on the couch. She was lying down on her left side with her right hand dangling over the front of the couch, grasping the remote.

He grinned evilly. _'Maybe now I can pay her back for that slap. What if I tickle her nose and she'll hit her face with some whipped cream or something. Naw, too classic.'_ He walked quietly towards her. The floor suddenly squeaked causing her to stir. He froze waiting for her to stop moving. She shifted into a ball as if she was cold while her hand was pulled back from the floor as well. _'Close one.'_ He crept closer and bent down so that he was face to face with her.

When he looked at her though, all evil thoughts left his mind. He was stunned that he completely forgot about his wicked plot of revenge, but he pushed that thought aside. _'Has she always been this…beautiful?'_ He felt his face getting closer and closer. His lips just about to touch hers when…

_Ding! Dong!_

Sakura shot up, slamming heads with Sasuke. "Ow!" they both cried out. They looked at each other painfully.

_Ding! Dong!_

"Coming!" She got up, rubbing her head, leaving Sasuke sitting on the floor rubbing his head also. She opened the door. "Oh, hey mom!" she hugged her and let her in. "Um, this is Uchiha Sasuke. I'm sort of tutoring him for a while." Sasuke made his way back to his feet.

"Hello Sasuke, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too ma'am." Sasuke reached over and shook her hand.

"My, what happened to you're arm?" she asked.

"Oh this? It was just an accident, it's stupid really." He sheepishly smiled.

Sakura's mom tugged on Sakura's sweater. "He's a handsome one." She whispered. Sakura turned a little bit red in the face. Sasuke saw this and wondered what she said. "Anyway, I'll go set up some tea." Sakura's mom was about to leave when Sasuke stopped her. "No, uh don't worry about it ma'am. I was just about to leave. It's getting late anyway."

He grabbed his jacket and walked towards the door. "Um, I'll go see him out." Sakura followed him.

She came up behind him. "Sorry about that, I didn't know my mom was coming home so soon." He stood up and looked at her. "Don't worry about it. I'll just see you at school then?" Sakura opened the door and he walked out. "Yeah, I'll see you."

Sasuke turned around and was about to walk way when he remembered his notebook. Sakura was inches away from him when she remembered that he left his stuff in the living room as well. Sasuke spun around. "I almost forgot my—"

He was cut off from his sentence almost instantaneously. In that split moment, their lips touched. They only kissed shortly but it felt so much longer than that. They both broke away soon afterwards. Once again, they found the floor quite interesting to look at.

"I'll just…go and get…yeah." Sakura ran in and snatched his books from the coffee table. She handed him his books and bid farewell. "Later." She closed the door behind her and stood there for a moment. She stared at the chandelier hanging from her ceiling. _'What was that?' _She touched her lips still feeling the tingle. "I hate you, don't I?" she thought out loud.

"Sakura? Can you help me in the kitchen, dear?"

"Uh, okay mom!"

After the kiss, Sasuke froze outside staring at the door. He walked up to the door ready to knock when he heard her. He lowered his arm, letting his features relax and soften. "I thought I hated you too."

* * *

**Remember to review! thanks. and the continuation of this story depends on how much the readers like it. so just review if you want moree! i'm aiming for a lot of reviews on this story xD.**

- --writingzeaL


	3. Captivated

**A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed. I'll try and make a few more chapters before school starts. And as for the frequent question, I'm aiming for over ten chapters. I'd be lucky to have at least fifteen. Thank you again! Enjoy!**

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* * *

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_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 3: Captivated**

The bell for break had rung a few minutes ago and since Sakura had nothing to do, she went straight to her locker. Students roamed the hallways in groups of friends, seemingly to have no care in the world. She, on the other hand, had much to think about.

Sakura opened her locker searching for her English books and her pencil case. _'I haven't seen Sasuke all day. I wonder if he's mad…'_ she had been thinking about it throughout the hours. She just couldn't shake the fact that she had her first kiss, with the cutest guy in school, by accident. That's not how she pictured it at all.

She sighed then closed her locker. "So, are you going to spill it?" Ino appeared as soon as the locker door had locked into place. Sakura jumped at the sudden arrival of her friend. "W-what?" She asked. "You know, I'm not as stupid as most think I am." Ino grinned, resting her index finger on her chin. "From the way you've been acting lately, I would think something strange happened."

The warning bell rang and a river of students began to rush to their next classes.

Ino and Sakura merged in with the students as well. "What do you mean by 'acting'? I haven't been acting weird." Sakura wasn't making any eye contact with Ino, nor was she paying much attention to her words. She searched the heads to catch even a glimpse of Sasuke. "Yes, you have. See, you weren't doing your work in socials. It was like you were in a daze. Oh and even in math you were just staring out the window." Ino looked at her friend who was looking at everyone else but her. It ticked her off a little bit. "Are you even listening to me?" Ino took the silence as a no. "See, even now you're acting funny."

"Look Ino, you're just over thinking it. Maybe you just haven't seen me do those things before, cause I have, you know." Sakura gave up looking. _'What's the use? I'm not going to find him in this. Besides, I have English next. Maybe he'll show up there.'_

"Of course you've done those things before." Her words were dripping with sarcasm. They both found their English class and went to their respective seats. All the while, Sakura still searched for the familiar mess of black hair to reassure herself, but he wasn't there.

"Class, please take your seats, the bell is about to ring." The screeching of chairs moving filled the room. Sakura took her seat by the window and placed her things on her desk. Soon enough, the bell did ring, and there was still no sign of him. _'Why isn't he here?'_

After the teacher did roll call, he began the class. "Class please turn your books to page 32." The teacher turned and began to write the topic on the white board. "Today we will be learning about…" The teacher's voice began to fade away from Sakura's mind. She began to play around with her pencil and drawing what ever came to mind on her blank piece of paper. _'Why am I even looking for him? So what if he's mad? Wouldn't that be better? Then I wouldn't have to see him.' _It was like her pencil had a mind of its own. It continued to scribble while Sakura swam through her thoughts. _'Yeah, that's right. Just because we kissed doesn't mean that I automatically have to like him.' _She propped her head onto her open palm. _'And it was an accident. I shouldn't be getting worked up about it.'_ She sighed. _'An accident that's making my head hurt.'_

"Psst, Sakura!"

Sakura looked down at her paper finally seeing what she had subconsciously drawn. Different sized hearts. She knew she should have been furious with herself but she just couldn't find it in herself to get mad. Then, as if meant to be there, Sasuke and his trademark smile appeared in the center of her doodles. _'What's gotten into me.'_

"Sakura!" another whisper.

_'It's been less than forty-eight hours. That's pathetic, Sakura.' _No matter how many times she scolded herself, she couldn't help but imagine him and his smile. _'Why is he so damn cute? But frik, he's just such an idiot sometimes.'_ she suddenly remembered the time when she got wet from a car splash. She snarled and was about to scribble out the hearts when she felt something hit her head. "Ow!" she cringed under her breath. She placed her hand on her sore head, realizing that it was an eraser that hit her. She narrowed her eyes, searching for the culprit.

"Geez, you _have_ gone deaf, haven't you? Pass me back my eraser before the teacher sees." Ino stretched out her hand, waiting for the rubber material to be positioned back into her palm. "Oh, and by the way, you're almost up for reading so stay out of your head until then, will you?"

Sakura growled and forcefully placed the eraser in Ino's hand. "Next time, throw something that isn't so hard. Oh, and while we're on the subject, I wasn't day dreaming."

"Really, then what were you doing? You couldn't hear me the two times that I called you. To make you're hearing even worse, I've been calling you since the beginning of class and look at the time, we've only got like five minutes left." Ino then raised her eraser and grinned. "I guess all you needed was a little knock on the head." She earned a fierce look from Sakura.

"Miss Haruno and Miss Yamanaka! Would you like to share what you're talking about to the whole class?" They both at once sat up straight and blushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, Sir." They said simultaneously.

"Well, while I have your attention, Miss Haruno, please read next." Sakura nodded and stood up, holding the material she had to read from. She was going to read when Naruto yelled while pointing out the window. "Hey, look! That blimp has Utada Hikaru on it! It says there's a surprise concert this month!" Every student in the class shot out of their seats and ran to the window.

"Eh?" Sakura was shoved over, left behind in the back looking over heads, trying to see the blimp. "Geez, guys let me see." She tried climbing on a chair, a table, tipi-toe, she just couldn't see.

"Hey, what are those papers flying down?" a random boy yelled out catching everyone's attention.

"Make way! I'm headed down there." Naruto ran out the door. Each person looked around. "Is he allowed to do that?" They questioned one another. Then the bell rang, signifying that the period was over. One and all took this as a chance to flee to the courtyard where the papers fell.

All left but Sakura and Ino. Ino grabbed her stuff hastily. "Meet you down there, 'kay?" and with that she too disappeared out the door like the rest. Sakura liked Utada Hikaru as well, but after that, she didn't think it was worth going downstairs. "They're probably just flyers saying when and where the concert is." The teacher spoke as if reading her mind. "Yeah, so I'm not really up to going down there." She packed up her things and bid farewell to her teacher.

"Oh, Miss Haruno," she stuck her head back into the room. "Yes, sir?" He handed her the notebook she was using during class. "Next time, don't doodle during a lesson." He chuckled knowing that she probably had a crush on someone, as explained by the hearts drawn on her notebook. She blushed uncontrollably, taking her notebook with a respectful bow. "Thank you, sir."

* * *

Sakura walked into the science room that the student president said the meeting was going to be in. Just earlier, she was walking through the empty halls. Seeing as everyone was outside, she quietly hummed a tune to herself. It was a tune only she knew. It was the tune to the song she was writing. She didn't know any lyrics for it yet, but she knew they would come to her in time.

Suddenly, as she stopped humming, she saw that someone was already in the room. She saw something round going up and down. It was dark so she couldn't really tell what it was. She felt for the class lights beside the door. "Geez, why do the curtains have to be closed all the time?" She flicked the light open.

And there he was.

Sasuke was sitting on a chair with his feet up on the desk. He was tossing a baseball up towards the ceiling. "Yeah, the curtains bug me too." He simply gave an answer to her question as acknowledgment of her presents.

"What the heck are you doing here?" she asked placing her stuff down by his feet on the desk. "Sitting and playing with this baseball." He answered plainly. She put her hands on her hips. "In the dark?" She saw him shrug. "At least no one noticed I was here." He continued to throw the ball in the air with his right hand. "Well, how long have you been in here? You missed English." He caught the ball and held onto it, giving his attention to Sakura. She blushed at the sudden consideration of the smug teen. "You know, I've missed that class so many times and you just noticed _now_ that I missed that class?" he put his feet firmly on the floor and put his right elbow the desk, placing the ball gently on its surface.

She opened her mouth as if to actually answer, but not a sound left her lips. "I'd take it you missed me already? Awe, that's sweet, Sakura." He chuckled and began rolling the ball around. She reddened at his words, but however, she stood her ground. "For your information, Mr. Uchiha, I just so happened to hear the teacher say that you weren't there during roll call, that's all."

He looked up at her, still continuing to roll the sphere. "Oh? So, what you're saying is that you had never listened to the teacher before? And yet you get such good grades?" He stood up and walked over to her. _'Why is he walking over here?_' she felt her face flush even more. He walked around behind her and placed his chin on her shoulder, only bending over slightly since he was only a bit taller than her. _'This cannot be happening to me! Just a couple minutes ago, I was daydreaming about him in English, now this!?_' With a childish smile, he said, "You've gotta tell me you're secret, honestly." She froze at the contact. "What? Cat got your tongue?" He pulled the words out agonizingly slowly. _'Oh, he's going to getting now.'_

She turned around giving an annoyed smile. She grabbed his cheeks with her hands and began stretching them out. "You're just unbelievably adorable, aren't you?" she pinched hard and tugged firmly. Upon seeing him wince, she grinned in victory.

"Ow, ow! Q-quit it, will ya?" he tried to pry her hands away but to no avail. "I just can't help it! You are just too-damn-cute!" with each syllable she pinched harder.

He couldn't take it anymore his cheeks were dying. _'Crazy girl! Damn that hurts!_' He shook his head trying to get her to let go. Then he suddenly got an idea and smirked to himself. This didn't go unnoticed by Sakura, so she gripped hard onto his cheeks preparing for what he had in store.

He swiftly poked at her side. Sakura jerked immediately and lightened her pinches on his cheeks. He saw that it worked and he continued to tickle her. She then let go completely and began to back away, swiping at his hand, trying to avoid getting tickled. "Hey, no tickling, that's not funny." She said between laughs. She turned to run but he quickly wrapped his right arm around her waist. Bearing in mind that he still had a cast on, he used his right hand to tickle her. She laughed and squirmed, trying to escape from his grasp. "You're not getting away that easily."

"Ahem," they both stopped and looked towards the door. It was Hatake Kakashi, one of the school's janitors. He knew the school inside and out, considering that he'd been working there since Tsunade had became the principal, which, to put it shortly, was a very long time ago. "I just need to change the garbage cans then you can continue you're little fun." There was a glint in his eyes.

Sasuke and Sakura both stood up straight with faces redder than two bright cherries. Sasuke looked up, pocketing his hands, trying to push his blush down while Sakura crossed her arms and looked to the side, trying to do the same that he was.

'_Out of all the janitors, the perverted one had to step in.'_ Sakura thought. _'And just when we were, er, arguing?'_

"Kakashi, you've gotta be kidding, me right?" Sasuke said through grinding teeth, quiet enough so that Sakura couldn't hear him. He glared at Kakashi, whose glint in his eye still lingering. "Don't worry, I didn't see much." He snickered and tied the garbage bag shut and throwing it over his shoulder. He saluted the two teens. "I'm off, don't do anything bad now, kiddies." With that, he was gone out the door.

Sasuke and Sakura stood there, quiet for a moment.

"I'm sorry about—"

"Um, I guess—"

They both interrupted each other leaving an awkward silence. Then Kakashi came back, popping his head into the classroom. At the same time, they could hear students beginning to fill the halls once more. "By the way, Sasuke, Tsunade told me to tell you that you have to help me after school." Sasuke looked at him with a miserable expression, making Sakura giggle a bit. Then the swarm of student council members began to wash Kakashi farther away. "Three o'clock, Sasuke!"

They looked at each other. She was giggling at his predicament. He couldn't help but smile at her laugh. He scratched his cheek with his index finger. _'Her laugh and her smile…how come it took me this long to get to know her?_' Even amongst so much noise, he could still hear her enchanting voice loud and clear. "It's time to start the meeting, janitor boy."

* * *

"So, you mean to tell me that I'll have to help out with the decorations for the dance too?" Sasuke walked down the empty school halls, shoulders slouched forward with a defeated expression. It was only fifteen minutes after school, and yet not a student was in sight. "Yup, and help Kakashi with clean up, participate in this years school play," Sakura continued to list on, but Sasuke refused to listen. "Okay, you can stop with that. I'm already hurting just thinking about how much I have to do."

They stopped by Sakura's locker. She put her hand on the lock and turned it to the right. Sasuke, who was leaning back on the other lockers, scanned his surroundings with a sigh. He had seen almost every part of the school that he never knew existed within two days, and it amazed him. Soon, his wandering eyes fell onto his companion. Sakura had an odd feeling that she couldn't quite recognize. It was as if her everyone move was being watched carefully. She slowed down her turning to a complete halt. "Sasuke, no peeking."

He turned to look at her directly face to face. "And who said I was looking at the lock." Once more, seconds seemed forever as they stared at one another, memorizing every feature on the other's visage. _'He's just so perfect, I don't understand how.'_ Her hand began to slowly rise towards his face. _'Where's the brat I once knew back then? Maybe if I saw him again, I would lose interest in this brat.' _Her hand grazed his cheek. _'But would I want that?'_

He felt her delicate hands on his skin. Out of instinct, he slightly leaned his head towards her touch, making her rest her hand on his cheek. _'I feel so…carefree.'_ He began to lose himself in her eyes._ 'And her fingers feel so soft that I could just,'_ he felt himself grow nearer to her. _'Kiss her right here.' _With inches to go, they closed theirs eyes slowly, already feeling the warmth from each other.

But just when their lips brushed, the same bothersome person, whom they both didn't want to see at the moment, came and stole the moment once again.

'_Freakin' hell, Kakashi!'_ Sasuke was just about ready to rip Kakashi's head right off of his shoulders. "Oh, Sasuke, there you are! You're fifteen minutes late!" Both of the teenagers looked at him. He was wearing a whole janitor suit, gloves on and two mops along with two buckets hanging from a few fingers.

Sasuke still had his body facing her but he was looking at Kakashi. She looked up at him with a pink face. _'I couldn't move at all. I hate how he can do that to me.'_ Sasuke then turned his head back to Sakura, forgetting how close they really were. He looked at her, surprised when their noses skimmed passed each other. "I, uh, gotta go." Sakura nodded. She then closed her locker, putting her messenger bag over her shoulder. "Um, do you want me to walk you out?" She looked over to Kakashi who was whistling a tune, waiting for Sasuke to finish up. She shook her head. "No, it's fine, don't worry. Besides, he seems to be waiting."

"Okay, then. Later." He walked towards Kakashi and Sakura made her way to the doors.

When she disappeared, Kakashi didn't let any minute pass. "I can't believe you got a girlfriend already!" he pretended to have a tear come out of his eye. "It only seemed like yesterday when you thought girls had cooties. Actually, wait a minute," his eyes grew serious. "How long have you had a girlfriend and how come I didn't know about it." He pouted.

"Oh my frikken gosh, old man. She's not my girlfriend." Sasuke snatched the mop and began to clean the hall, his other arm having no use in the task. "Oh really? Then what was the whole science room thing about?" Kakashi nudged him, eyebrows going up and down. "And just now. Was that a kiss I saw?" Seeing as the teen wouldn't turn around, he knew he was hitting the button.

Kakashi poked it his shoulder. Sasuke just shook it off. "What ever happened to helping with cleaning? It's not a time to interrogate." With that, he moved farther down the hall. _'She's not my girlfriend.'_ He mopped hard, frustrated from his little conversation with Kakashi._ 'She's not my girlfriend.'_ He kept going, stating the phrase over and over. But soon his mopping slowed and his features softened. _'She can't be my girlfriend.'_ There was a hint of hurt on his face. "She just can't."

* * *

**A/N: Now please press that oh so haunting review button. LOL. hoped you liked it! updates soon.**


	4. Hate Disappears Over Time

**A/N: it's a fast update cause i was already working on this when i updated chapter 3. enjoy!**

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* * *

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_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 4: Hate Disappears Over Time**

Inside a certain messy bedroom, a disarray of black hair peeked out from under a large, thick blanket. Bright sunlight shone onto his feet through the open window.

A small creature popped out from under a pile of clothes on the floor, yawning and scratching its ear with a paw. The blondish coloured animal used its small paws to trot over to his master's bed. He tried to get up the side, but as soon as he saw that it was too big, he whined a little bit and looked around. He spotted a chest on the end of the bed that was just big enough for him to hop on, so he ran over and clumsily climbed up onto the bed.

_Bark! Woof!_

The puppy scratched lightly at the black hair. Sasuke groaned and kicked the blanket down to his waist, revealing his white wife-beater and navy blue shorts. The pup barked in delight and hopped down to lick his owner's face.

"Chino…leave me alone." Sasuke mumbled into his pillow.

Chino stopped and tilted his head, wondering why he wouldn't wake up. Then suddenly the door opened and the startled dog dug under the covers.

"Sasuke! Wake up!" Itachi walked in and pulled the pillow from right under his head.

Sasuke moaned in pain as his head was dropped onto the bed mattress. He peeked sleepily at his beside alarm clock, which read seven thirty. He then grabbed onto his blanket and pulled it over his head. He flipped onto his stomach in the process. "It's Saturday, no school."

Just when Sasuke thought that he would be left in peace to sleep till noon, his black blanket was pulled right off. He curled up at the sudden cold that took over his body. "What the hell, Itachi!" Chino too cuddled into Sasuke, feeling both scared and cold.

"You're going to be late for drama rehearsal, little brother." He dropped the blanket and pillow that he expertly snatched away onto the messy white carpet floor. He then walked out, shutting the door behind him.

Chino came out of hiding and jumped onto his owner's back. "Can you believe I have to go to school, bud?" Sasuke rested his head on his arm. Chino jumped onto his head and Sasuke looked up. He saw the infamous black nose that always got dirt all over it when its possessor dug holes in the back yard. "Ya hungry?"

_Bark! Bark!_

"Alright man, but you gotta let me get dressed first." Chino jumped down onto the bed and ran in a circle wagging his tail. Sasuke got up and made his way to his closet. He slipped on a pair of jeans and put on a new black and red shirt. "Come on, Itachi probably got you some food already downstairs." He motioned for the dog to go ahead of him but the dog stayed. He walked over to the top of his dresser and put on his black watch and his red and black baller bands. He nearly forgot to put on the bracelet he got form his mother. It had Uchiha written on its dark wood surface. He then skilfully tied the braided thread around his right wrist.

He then made his way to his washroom and while he brushed his teeth, he said to his puppy, "You still scared of him?" The dog whined and laid his head down on the bed. "You're joking right? You've gotta get used to him some time. Oh and by the way," he came out of the washroom ready to go downstairs. "There's this girl at school that I just met a few days ago. I know you'd like her. She's…I don't know how to say it really. Use you're imagination I guess, but nothing bad though. I'm not raising you to be a bad dog, got it?" He picked up Chino and opened the door, leaving the messy room for another day. "Come on, I smell bacon."

* * *

"You have to express yourself to become the character in the story. Let the actor come out of you and bloom like the most beautiful rose in the garden." The auditorium, where the drama club rehearsed, was filled with students ranging from grades ten to twelve. Each had a copy of that year's school play and was being debriefed on how their audition should be like. Some looked quite nervous, but most looked excited and looking forward to the fact that they will be acting as someone they were not. 

"There she goes again," Ino mumbled.

"You've got that right. Does she have to do this same speech every time before an audition?" Sakura whispered back, sinking into her seat, as to not be seen.

"Now I would like to call up a few students to begin the auditions." She looked at the clipboard that he had held onto during her speech.

Just then, the door opened and a bright light shone into the dark auditorium. A young teen walked in slowly wondering why it was so quiet. "Hello?" He could see the teacher but other than that, it was too dark to see anyone in the audience.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Uchiha. Please come in and take a seat."

"Uh, 'kay, er, yes ma'am." He walked down the middle aisle, feeling every eye on him. From several different directions, he could hear people say, "Why is he here?" or "Isn't he the one who…"

He then found a familiar sight and went towards her, taking the seat adjacent to her's. "Oh yeah, I forgot, you have to help with this too, huh?" Sakura's sarcasm was put into effect.

"Good morning to you too, Haruno." He replied then glancing over passed Sakura to her friend. "Mornin' Ino." She waved and smiled, sighing back into her seat at the thought that Sasuke actually greeted her. Sakura looked at her, shaking her head at her friend's childish behaviour.

The first batch went up leaving the rest to sit and watch. Sasuke sat back comfortably, resting his elbow on the arm rest. He placed his cheek in his palm, observing carefully. _'So, all I have to do is read off that booklet and I'm done? Sweet. Then I can get back to bed.'_ At the thought of returning to his warm, relaxing bed, his eyelids began to droop slightly. His head tilted a little bit more, nearly making his head fall off of his palm. He startled himself, causing him to shake off his drowsiness and change his position to keep himself awake.

Sakura noticed that he was moving frequently and wanted to tell him to just sit still. She had nothing to do there but to watch and see who would get the parts because she was just the back stage manager. She had no use for auditioning.

She turned her head to Sasuke. She saw that he had the crook of his neck on the top of his back rest and his arms were crossed over his chest. Most noticeable of all, his eyes were closed and his light, even breathing could be heard from his slightly parted mouth. _'He's asleep.'_ She giggled softly as to not wake him from his deep slumber.

She then turned her body to face him. She had to wake him for if the drama teacher sees him, he would be in big trouble. She knew how the teacher hated people sleeping on the job. Every moment should be used to the fullest, she would say.

She brought her head closer to his ear. _'This'll get him.'_ She was about to yell something when she accidentally touched him arm. She pulled back, hoping that he didn't feel it. She wanted to wake him differently. He barely moved. He simply turned his head so that he was facing her, then he fell back into dreamland. She was close enough to see him as clearly as anyone could see in the dark. _'His hair looks so soft.'_ She took her hand and moved his bangs away from his handsome face.

Ino noticed that her best friend's back was in front of her. Knowing full well that the Uchiha was in the other seat, she grinned evilly and shoved Sakura a little bit.

Sakura nearly went head first into Sasuke, which would've surely woken him up. She was so close that if she breathed, he would've probably felt it. She slowly backed away, setting herself straight back into her own seat. She then turned and looked at Ino. "What was that for? I almost bashed into him head on."

"Sorry, my hand slipped." She laughed to herself. She waved her hand innocently at Sakura.

"Next batch up!" the first batch had finished their audition. "Would Mr. Uchiha, Miss Yamanaka, Miss Haruno please come up to the stage." Sakura suddenly jolted upon hearing her name.

"Me, ma'am?"

"Yes, you Miss Haruno. You will be reading out the part of the maid." The teacher checked her clipboard twice to confirm her words. Since she saw that she was correct, she checked off the names and looked back to her student.

"Wait, that's one of the lead female roles. I thought I was back stage manager, we already agreed on it." All of her rambling soon woke up the slumbering Uchiha.

"Why the hell is everyone speaking so loudly?" he muttered, rubbing his eye. When his vision cleared, he saw that the stage was empty, excluding the teacher who was standing right in the center. "What's…going on?"

"Like, I was saying, Mr. Uchiha, Miss Yamanaka and Miss Haruno will be the next batch for auditions." Sasuke got up and walked to the stage. "Alright, let's get this over with." He said as he walked up, receiving his script. Seeing as Sakura couldn't get out of it, she walked dejectedly towards the stage, script in hand, with Ino following suit.

"So, Miss Yamanaka, you will be reading the princess's part and as for you Mr. Uchiha," the teacher flipped through her papers. "Ah, yes, the noble prince. Off you go!" Ino jumped inside at the thought of her being the princess who is in love with the prince. She found it to be quite an interesting part. Sakura on the other hand still couldn't believe she was even on the stage. The drama teacher then sat down in her chair. "Action!"

At first they didn't know what to do, but Ino soon started. "Oh, my dear prince! There you are." She swooned over to Sasuke and grabbed his arm. "Everything is going well with the wedding plans, my dear." He stood there, scanning his script for what to do, and at the same time, trying to pry his arm away from her. _'Damn, I thought we were just reading off the book. Who ever said anything about actions?'_

Sakura then entered with her line. "Sire, here is your breakfast." She walked over, pretending to put a plate down by the prop table. She turned around to leave when Sasuke took this as his cue.

"Maid, may I have a word with you?" Sakura turned around and bowed slightly. "Princess, if you please," he gestured for her to let go.

"Please be back soon, my prince, we still have much to do, much to prepare for!" she then turned around, fanning herself with her script, pretending that it was the most expensive fan in town.

Sasuke then walked with Sakura towards left stage. "Sire," Sasuke hushed her, as indicated by the script. "Please, Toshio, if you will."

"Yes, sire—Toshio."

"Listen, Harumi—may I call you that?" Sakura nodded as to let him continue. "I cannot marry the princess Mitsuko. There just simply is no way that I will go through with it." He paced around the stage, now knowing that actions were involved. "I mean not to be wronging the princess, but I never loved her, not even in the slightest. I have not actually told her this for I know she will fall into the deepest of despairs."

'_He's pretty good at this. It's like he's actually Toshio, the prince. I never knew he could act.' _She thought to herself.

Sasuke then turned to her. "Please say something. It may perhaps calm my soul at the least if you scolded me for my decision."

Sakura then moved along, walking passed him. "Sir Toshio, you must bear in mind that she was said to marry you long before you were born. The king sees it fit for you to marry her." She turned to him. "Though to be honest sir," she walked up to him. "I would think that the queen may have thought otherwise."

Sasuke looked at her. "What do you mean to say, Harumi?"

"When she was ill, I had always attended to her every need." Sakura turned to the audience and looked up to the ceiling, as if recalling a certain memory that she had. "Once, she even mentioned how she wanted the best for her son, but she wanted him to no feel forced in anyway. Well, in this case, your marriage, your highness."

"You speak no lies, for I know my mother as the sweet and caring sort." He read ahead trying to see what would happen next so that he would be prepared. "Then for her sake, I will follow her wishes." Sasuke walked up to Sakura so that he was standing right behind her. He didn't really know what he was doing at the time, he just followed his body. "I cannot marry the princess because I am in love with another fair maiden." He whispered but it was loud enough for the audience to hear. The drama teacher leaned forward as if drawn to the performance.

"This is what the queen had meant. If you love someone else, sire, you should speak with princess Mitsuko in private about the matter." She stood there with her back to him, knowing that he was fairly close. She swallowed hard.

"I am in love with you," Sasuke blanked out for a second, the words still ringing in his head. "Harumi." He added quietly, wondering why the name didn't seem to fit in the sentence.

'_What?' _Sakura blushed on stage with the lights blaring at her, making the heat intensify. She then quickly read her script, forgetting that she had to continue the audition. "T-Toshio, I cannot understand. I am but just a maid, a mere peasant in your presents. How can you love one as I?" She walked off so that the crowd could see her profile. She then faced Sasuke, who was a few feet away. _'Frik, some audition I've gotten myself into.'_

"Status matters not, for in my eyes, you are as beautiful as the rising sun. In fact, you are more beautiful than that of which words cannot explain." he said it with such passion that it even surprised him. He walked up to her carefully, not sure of what to do next.

"But sire, I simply cannot. The princess would have my head." Then with a little bit of nervous hesitation, Sasuke grabbed Sakura into a full hug as he wrapped his arms around her. _'That's not in the script!_' she then found out how nervous he really was, for she could feel a slight tremor in his movements. She slowly wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. _'He smells good though.'_ He began to relax a bit and she could feel it. She soon began to melt into him, forgetting for a second time, that they were on stage, in front of an audience of students.

"You know that I will not let such a thing ever happen to you," he whispered. "My sweet."

Then Ino came in with her line, alarming the teens. "Dear, can I have a word with you?" the script said that the princess was supposed to catch the prince and the maid together. "What? Who is this! Guards!" She pointed accusingly at the couple. "What are you doing with this peasant? You are my husband to be, my fiancée!"

Sakura and Sasuke broke away slightly. He had one of his hands resting on her back, while Sakura had hers on his. His other hand held the script that he checked hastily, losing where he was. "Line two hundred eight." Sakura whispered.

"Thanks." He replied. "I'm sincerely sorry, princess, but I cannot take your hand in marriage, for she," he moved his hand to wrap around her waist, "is who I am in love with." Sakura blushed a little bit, not knowing why, but loving the feeling of his protective arms around her.

"This is not right! You are to be my husband! Guards, take her away!"

"And cut!" the teacher's voice cracked as if she was going to cry. "That was, beautiful! My, my, I never knew you could act so marvellously Mr. Uchiha, and you Miss Yamanaka have splendid volume and expression fit for your character!" She then turned her attention to Sakura. "I think giving you the back stage manager position would be like shunning away your astonishing talent, Miss Haruno. You three were perfect! Absolutely marvellous! I think we've found our lead characters!" she began to clap. "I love how you three made the script and characters your own. Amazing improvisation on the hug, I must say."

Sakura and Sasuke began to blush wildly. Sasuke was getting a bit uncomfortable. It was his first time doing that sort of thing, so getting such comments was overwhelming. He nudged at Sakura's arm, "Maybe we should get down now," then he made his way over to the stairs on the side of the stage along with Ino and Sakura.

* * *

"So you mean to tell me," Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, walking alongside Sakura, down a boulevard filled with lush green trees and blooming flower gardens. It was the area of town where the most beautiful sceneries were; a tourist area most preferably. "that I have to go to school every Saturday to practice that stupid play?" He couldn't believe that another day had been added to his schooling. 

"Yup, you'd better believe it, Uchiha." She chuckled. It was now noon and she was, once again, being walked home by the famous Uchiha Sasuke. She was kind of getting used to the fact that he was always going to be around. She's already gone through it for three days straight and counting and no telling how long he'll have to do it. "Well, what did you think? You got landed the lead male role. It's not like the teacher's just going to leave you alone after finding out about your 'splendid acting skills.'" She mocked.

"Well, look who's talking. You're the one that got the lead female role. Besides, you've probably done this before anyway. That was my first time, but it was easier than I thought." He grinned triumphantly at his accomplishment.

"So, it really was your first time." Sakura said, impressed at his acting debut. She saw him nod. "That was my first time too. I'm really not the type to go on stage, that's why I took the backstage manager position every year." She looked down, continuing to walk. "Odds are it sucked."

"Nah, you were a natural." He looked up at the trees, which shaded them from the rays of the sun. His eyes softened as he gave a genuine smile. _'The breeze is great.'_ He was a nature lover at heart. He loved the way how everything the sun touches turns it into a piece of art that always calmed his mind and body. He always forgot about his problems whenever he saw something so enchanting.

Sakura found that the shade was about to end on a dock. _'Wait a minute, I recognize this place. It's the café the overlooks the ocean.'_ She saw a glimpse of the breathtaking scene and her eyes immediately lit up. "Sasuke, come on, I know this place that makes great ice caps." She soon led him down a flight of cement stairs and across a street.

When they made it to the café, they took a table on the patio. "What kind of ice cap do you want?" Sakura asked putting down her bag in her chair, taking out her wallet. "I'll get whatever you're getting, but I'm paying." Without delay, he took out his wallet as well.

"Look, it's my treat today because it's your first time here." She turned and walked away. He shook his head.

He turned to the people next to their table. There was a man accompanied by a woman, whom were both about middle aged, were sitting having a small conversation. "Could you please save this table for us? I kinda gotta go deal with something." He received a nod indicating that it was safe to go. "Don't worry man, we saw her. Just go, we'll keep watch on your table." The male waved to Sasuke for reassurance.

Sasuke spotted Sakura at the front counter already, so he made his way over. "That will be $6.79 please." The cashier person said. Sasuke, being the slick boy that he was, snuck in and gave a ten dollar bill.

"Wha—hey!" She glared at him which was quite predictable in his case. "I told you I was paying." He winked at her grabbing his ice cap and walking away smoothly, leaving a fuming Sakura, who followed after him with her own ice cap.

Sakura sat across from Sasuke, taking a sip now and then of her drink, while staring out into the ocean. Several boats could be seen sailing atop the tranquil waters. _'I haven't been on a sailboat in the longest time._' The light breeze blew by them, whipping at their hair. Sakura let the wind blow at her shoulder length tresses, enjoying the light touch of the wind.

Sasuke was seated comfortably, feet planted on the wooden planks, with his elbows in the table. His head was low, hair thrashing in all directions. He looked up at Sakura, his glances going unnoticed by the teenage girl before him. Although her hair was being blown around, to him, it was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. The way the sun shone on her face made her glow like and angel. _'She's amazing.'_

Later, she looked at him. "What? Is there something on my face?" The wind soon died down, finally leaving them alone. Sakura's hair just came back down, framing her face gently as if the wind had never happened. Sasuke was pulled out of his trance and he fumbled for something to say.

"I, er, was about to ask you…" he was searching the table as if he could read the words he was supposed to say. "…what kind of ice cap is this was? It's actually really good." He took quick sips to make the situation less suspicious, but in the process he got a brain freeze. He winced making one of the most hilarious faces Sakura had ever seen.

"It's french vanilla with hazelnut." She said between laughs. "Are you okay?" she saw him nod, eyes shut painfully. He began to message his temples to ease the pain.

* * *

In the distance, there was a group of people walking by. This group was particularly the one from school that Sasuke hung out with. He didn't notice them however, for they were a bit too far. 

"Hey," Naruto nudged Shikamaru in the rib. "Isn't that the Teme?" He pointed his chin towards the patio of the café.

"Oh yeah, hey?" Shikamaru rubbed his sore rib. "Yo, Kiba, it's Sasuke. Funny seeing him here." Shikamaru pointed to where their comrade was.

"Isn't that Sakura with him?" Kiba was the one to question. "Are they on a date or something?"

"Well, that might explain why he's not always around. He's got a girlfriend."

Naruto suddenly felt angered at Shikamaru's statement. The fact that Sasuke ditched them for a girl was most unlikely. "She can't be his girlfriend. I for one know that he hates that girl." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at them for a moment, seeing them laugh together and seemingly enjoying themselves. _'What the hell, Teme? What's gotten into you?'_

"Oi, Naruto, we're going. If you don't wanna be left behind, you'd better hurry up." Kiba shouted out to him from the end of the sidewalk. "Hey!" Naruto was about to leave when he took a double take on his best friend and Sakura. Sasuke's drink and surprisingly opened up on the top and spilled into his pant leg.

* * *

"Oh my gosh," Sakura covered her mouth with her hand but she couldn't keep her laughter in. "What did you do, idiot." Her laughter was going full out. Sasuke could feel the cold seeping through his jeans. He was mad but when he heard Sakura's laughter, he too began to laugh. 

He thought up an evil idea. He picked up some of the slush from his pants and flung it at his friend, nailing her right on the cheek. She stopped abruptly with her mouth wide open in a surprised but happy way. "Sasuke!" she laughed, taking it off her face and flinging it back at him. He tried to dodge but it was a direct shot to his ear. "Damn that's cold, Sakura!" He shot out of his chair and tried to shake the slush off of his pants and his ear, laughing all the while.

* * *

Naruto saw it all. _'He's enjoying himself?'_ He then ran to catch up with his friends, looking back at the couple, whom began to walk away from the patio to walk in the opposite direction that he was. _'Does he know what he's getting himself into? They're only going to end up getting hurt.' _He began to walk side by side with Shikamaru and Kiba, ignoring their expressions of amusement. _'I hope you know what you're doing, Sasuke.' _He thought sadly.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to all who review to my story. you make me want to continue even more! and it tells me that you love this story as much as i do. thanks! and don't forget to review this one as well. **

**- --writingzeaL**


	5. Secrets Untold

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! this is probably the longest chapter i've ever written in my whole fanfiction life, but i say it's worth it. I've been soo caught up in reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows that i haven't had much time to write. But rest assured i'm still writing. so hope you guys like this chapter and reviews please!**

_**

* * *

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_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 5: Secrets Untold**

"Okay, how long did World War II last for?" Sakura was sitting, cross-legged on her couch with the large socials text book in her lap. As she continued to search for a new question, she looked down, hooking loose strands of hair behind her right ear. Sasuke on the other hand, sat in his usual spot, on the floor. Every time he came, that was his favourite spot. He had his left arm on the couch and one leg was crossed while the other stretch freely in front of him. His right hand was busy twirling his pencil. He had been informed by his doctor a few days before that he could take off the sling. He was now able to move his fingers around as if he only sprained his wrist.

"Uh, it lasted from 1939 to 1945 so, six years." He pointed his pencil at her to see if he got it right. "Good, next one." She flipped the page. Sasuke nodded his head and continued to twirl his wooden writing utensil. _'I can't believe I'm actually studying. That's a long stretch from before.'_

"Okay, how about this one." She sat up and wiggled around to get more comfortable. "The world was split into two different camps because of the war. What were they called?"

Sasuke smiled. "Easy, Allies and Axis."

Suddenly, the phone rang and the only phone was in the kitchen. "I'll go get it." Sakura put the book down in her spot and walked into the hallway. A second ring echoed through the halls. Soon, Sakura grabbed it right off its stand on the kitchen counter. "Hello, Haruno residence." All the while, Sasuke snuck into the kitchen behind Sakura and took a seat, his pencil still in hand. "Ino! Hey! What's up?"

"Guess what? I got my hands on an Utada Hikaru ticket!" Ino's voice could be heard clearly from the phone, as the Uchiha listened carefully.

"Are you serious? When? Where? How?" surprise evident in Sakura's voice. Sasuke heard it all. Of course she was going to be surprised; most of the tickets should've be sold out by then since the concert was on that upcoming Saturday.

"I bet you won't believe it, but Shikamaru gave me it! I was so surprised myself but I couldn't say no!" Ino sounded so happy, making the other remember that she didn't have a ticket yet.

"Oh, damn, I forgot, I haven't got one yet." Said Sakura, sounding a bit sad at the fact, already giving up hope, knowing that finding one at that time was the same as finding a dodo bird in central park.

"What do you mean you don't have one." a doubtful voice emitting from one end of the phone. "I mean I'm ticketless." Sakura repeated.

Sasuke's ears propped up as soon as he heard her speak. _'I thought she liked Utada Hikaru? Why wouldn't she have one?'_

The saddened teenager then looked up at the clock before her. "Oh, hey Ino, I gotta go. It's late and I gotta wrap it up with Sasuke." said Sakura, about ready to say good-bye. "Oh, Sasuke's there? And to what special event brought the hottie to your house?" Ino chuckled, teasing her best friend being her favourite hobby. "Tutoring, remember?" she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She shook her head, smiling at her friend's behaviour.

"Well, don't do anything bad! Unless I'm too late to say that…" Sakura just laughed at what Ino said. "Oh gosh, Sakura, don't tell me you…" Ino made a fainting sound that was probably accompanied by a hand on the forehead which most likely led to fake fainting performance. "Oh shut up, drama queen." She continued to laugh. "Bye."

Sakura hung up and began to walk back to the living room, not even noticing that the boy she was tutoring was in the kitchen behind her. "Ahem," As her body followed her ears, she found herself back in the kitchen. At an instant, she realized that he was probably there way before she hung up. "How long have you been there…" she blushed.

"Long enough to find out that you—" Sasuke searched through his pockets to bring out two concert tickets, "—don't have a ticket for this Saturday's concert." He fanned the two pieces of paper, mocking Sakura.

She was shocked. "How did you get those?

"Let's just say a certain lazy genius got a hold of several of them."

"Don't tell me he stole them." Sakura looked at him with an expectant look. "Actually, this time he didn't have to." Sasuke said, making her shake her head, snickering as she continued to listen. "His dad is a good friend of Utada Hikaru's manager so he got us free tickets."

Sakura walked over to him reaching for one, but Sasuke pulled them above her head, out of her reach. "Hey! I just wanted to see if you were telling the truth." She put her hands on her hips, giving him an annoyed look. "Well, if you want to even touch these, you'll have to do something for me." The same sly grin was pointed in her direction. She couldn't help but think how handsome that look really was.

"Oh no, I know that face, Uchiha. I am not going to do any favours for you." She went to the area by the sink, opening up and reaching into a cupboard to get herself a glass. "Oh come on, it's nothing cruel." Yet he still had the same wicked expression plastered to his face.

"Knowing you, it's probably something either degrading or disgusting or even," she rambled on as she opened the fridge and brought out some apple juice and poured some into her cup.

"All you have to do is do my chores." As he stopped and waited for her notice what he had said, he quickly made his way to her, taking his own glass from the cupboard. "Or rather help me, that is." He took the apple juice from the counter, since she didn't return it to its rightful place in the refrigerator.

"Help you with your chores?" she looked rather taken aback.

"Mhmm." He mumbled.

"See? That takes us back to the word 'disgusting'." She finished up her drink and put her glass in the sink. She walked passed him towards the living room uttering a straight forward 'no'.

"Aw, come on Sakura. Look at me, I have a broken arm. You've gotta feel a little sorry for me." He dropped his glass in the sink as well and sped after her.

"No." She said while crossing her arms over her chest. They were now face to face in her living room. "It's only for a day if not a couple hours. We have no school remember? The teacher's meeting is taking place tomorrow." He pleaded playfully, knowing he had the upper hand in the matter for he was in possession of the tickets that she wanted.

By the way he was acting, she could tell that he was toying with her. "You're so full of it, you know that? You're cute, but not that cute, Uchiha." She said, turning her head to the side pouting. _'Okay, so you are cute, screw it. I am not sinking that low to get a stupid ticket. It's just one concert anyway.'_

Just then, the phone rang again. "Ugh, wait a sec."

She was back in the kitchen, with the phone in her ear. To no surprise, Sasuke was right behind her. "Hello? Oh, mom. Hi, where are you? It's late."

"Sorry dear, I'm getting a ride from a friend at work. My car broke down so I'll have to get that fixed again."

Sakura turned around to see Sasuke, still waving the tickets around. She growled heatedly. _'I can't believe I'm doing this._' "Um, mom, tomorrow I'll be going to a friend's house since there's no school. When you get back from work, I think I should be here. Okay?"

"Oh, sure honey. Actually, just be back before ten o'clock, deal?"

"Yup. Bye." She hung up quickly, giving Sasuke a death glare.

"Wow, I never thought you wanted the tickets that much, or was it because of how cute I am? You did say so yourself." As he flashed a grin, she playfully punched him in the arm, giving him a look that was only half-heartedly meant to be mean.

* * *

Sakura stood on Sasuke's doorstep, both completely amazed at the size of his house and also completely amazed at why she even had the right mind of driving all the way to his house to do his chores. "I feel like a maid." Slumping forward, she rang the doorbell, hearing it ringing through the whole mansion. _'And here I thought that my house was too big.'_

She could faintly hear footsteps coming closer to the door. With a click, the door unlocked, revealing a beautiful interior with a certain Uchiha standing before her. He rubbed his eye sleepily, noticing that his visitor was Sakura. "Good morning." He mumbled, obviously still half asleep. "How did you get here?"

She motioned to her car, "I drove, duh. How else do you think I'm going to get all the way over here, by bike? Don't kid around." Sasuke sneezed lightly, still having that morning flu.

From inside the Uchiha abode, Sakura could hear a faint sort of barking sound. "What's that?" she asked. With no time to reply, her question was answered when a small, beige-brown puppy came and scratched at Sasuke's pyjama pant leg.

"Aw, it's so cute. I never knew you had a dog." She bent down and cooed the puppy to come over to her.

"You never asked me."

The dog slowly went towards Sakura. His innocent face made him all the cuter in her eyes. "What's his name?" Reaching out carefully with her hand, the dog barked happily and ran to her. She stroked his head down to his back, his tail wagging in excitement.

"Cappuccino, but I call him Chino for short." He said, smiling softly at the image before him.

"Chino," she said, testing out the name. "I like it." Giggling, she stood up after one more stroke on the dog's head. "So, are we gonna get started or are we going to stand out here all day?" Sasuke straightened himself and motioned for her to enter his house.

It was much more beautiful to her as she stared up at the high ceiling and the large flight of stairs that lead to three other floors. She heard a click from behind her as the door closed. As Chino ran up the stairs as best he could, Sasuke stood next to her, looking in the same direction. "It's not much, but it's home." He then began to walk up the stairs, following behind his dog.

"Not much he says," she mumbled.

"Do you want anything to drink? Or eat?" said Sasuke, looking back at her from the first platform of the staircase. "Uh, no it's okay, I ate before I got here." She said nervously at his sudden concern. "Alright then, let's start with the attic and work our way down." He pointed to the highest floor of his house and continued to walk up.

Her gaze caught onto the beautiful structure once more. She fell in awe as she carefully made her way up the steps, taking in every inch of her surroundings. For such a large mansion, she would've thought that the interior was ancient, having that serene feeling of an old man's cottage, but then her thoughts were proven wrong as the furniture was very much modern. Soft colours adorned the well placed furnishings, giving a welcoming feeling.

"Are you coming?" said Sasuke, a bit confused as to why she was taking longer than expected. His head peeked over a ledge, peering down at Sakura with an adorable questioning expression. Looking up at him, she couldn't suppress her giggle as she walked up the steps. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," her soft laughter resounded throughout the large space.

The higher she got, the more dazzled she became. Each floor seemed to go on endlessly. _'I bet this place could hold even more than three families.'_ They finally reached the final floor, making their way down the huge wooden-floored hall. "My room's on the second floor. This floor is where my brother's room is." He pointed to a clean white door as they passed. "Besides my room and my brother's room, the rest of the space in this house is used for recreational activities or storage. Most of the empty rooms are guest rooms anyway."

"What about your parents?" she asked softly, not knowing if she was invading private space or not.

"They passed away years ago. I've lived with my brother here since I was little. We inherited most of my parents stuff so, getting the house was just one of many things." He said it so casually that she didn't know how to react. "I'm sorry I—" He interrupted her. "Don't be. It's okay, I've gotten over it."

When they reached the end, they stopped in front of a door. "Well, here we are." He grabbed the doorknob, opening the door, revealing another staircase, although shorter, that lead to the attic which was illuminated by the only window, letting sunlight shine onto the dark-wood floors.

Sakura's eyes immediately saw piles of dusty boxes and old pictures with sheets covering almost everything. It was like something out of a horror film. "Scared, Haruno?" said Sasuke. Sakura didn't fail to hear the haughty attitude that came with the question. "Screw you, Uchiha." Nonetheless, she made her way into the attic, her head only inches from the ceiling. Sasuke was already slightly bowing his head as to not hurt himself.

"Okay, so all we have to do is open up the window and get all of the dust out. But first, we'll have to reorganize these books and boxes, seeing as most of them are torn up or breaking." He instructed, starting towards the large window.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this," said Sakura.

"Oh, but you are."

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Well, talking to yourself isn't really something you should boast about. It just makes you look mental."

Sakura was about to argue when they both turned their heads to a sudden barking. The little Chino was biting on Sasuke's pant leg and dragging it back as if the puppy knew he could move his foot. "Huh?" asked Sakura. "What's he doing?"

"I think he likes you, Sakura." He bent down onto one knee, prying the dog's teeth off of his pants.

"What?" obviously puzzled, she crouched down, arms crossed and resting on her knees.

"Okay, Chino, let go, man." Still the dog wouldn't budge. "Alright, I won't touch her," Sakura flushed and glared at him, but didn't say anything. "Look, see I'm just talking, nothing more." Sasuke raised his hands in surrender, never looking away, yet he was grinning. _'Is he going crazy?'_ she thought, raising an eyebrow at the situation, but as a shocker, Chino slowly let Sasuke's pant leg out of his vice-grip and turned to Sakura. "Ah!" He jumped onto her lap, making her fall on her rear end.

"Told you." Sasuke laughed, getting back up. He extended his hand to her. She gladly took it as she gradually got up, wincing in pain at the aching feeling on her backside. "What was that all about?" she asked. "He has a thing for you. That's all I can say." He replied with a shrug.

"Wha—"

"Come on, help me out here." He lifted a slightly large open top box stacked with filthy old tapes and made his way over to the empty side of the attic.

She growled under her breathe and shifted over to a box, all ready to pick it up when she remembered her companion was injured. "You sure you don't need help with that?" she asked across the room. She saw him dropped the box a few feet off the ground. He cringed, holding onto his left forearm, where the cast was. Immediately, she got up and ran toward him as best she could in the current terrain.

"Are you okay?" she placed her delicate hands onto his cast, her eyes on his arm. Chino sat anxiously, wondering why his master looked hurt. Sakura's eyes became hard as she looked at him. "You know you have a broken arm. Don't go carrying things that you can't take."

"And who are you, my mother?" he said sarcastically, wiggling his arm a bit, testing it out for abnormalities. "Seems fine." He alleged. "The doctor said it was just a minor fracture anyway. I should have it off next week or so." He was now trudging through boxes and books to grab more things to move.

"If you keep this up, you won't have it off till next month."

"Don't worry, I've got it." He was about to lift yet another large box when a soft hand rested on his shoulder. "You're as stubborn as a mule, you know that?" She went over, opposite him and carried half of the weight. He didn't complain, still feeling a slight pain in his arm. Not wanting to risk any further harm to his already broken arm, he didn't protest against her help.

After a few more boxes, Sakura's eye spotted a light blue photo album all dusty and aged from years of being in that attic. As she set the box they were currently holding down, she went and grabbed it, blowing the dust off, sending them flying into the atmosphere. _'I knew it.'_ With a mischievous smirk, she flipped open the album.

"Aw! Look at you Sasuke, you're so cute!" Sakura said loudly, laughing all the while. "Oh, and look at you in that little superman suit. Adorable!" soon Sasuke's intuition caught on. "Oh crap!" He jumped over the few obstacles before him and grabbed the album swiftly out of Sakura's grasp. He held it up above his head. His face was red with embarrassment, knowing that there were many uncomfortable pictures in there that he didn't want her seeing.

"Hey, no fair!" but alas she was still laughing hysterically. "Give it back! I don't wanna miss seeing you in your little super hero outfit." She said, reaching for the book. Sadly, it was just out of her reach, but that didn't stop her. As she continued to try and regain the album, Sasuke faced reddened even more at their closeness. "O-oi, cut it out Sakura!"

Chino then again bit onto his pant leg. "O-okay, attic's done! Let's go back downstairs."

* * *

They had managed to clean out the whole house in the last few long hours. Every inch of every floor was cleaned out, but Sakura couldn't say it wasn't filled with rubbish. On the contrary, she found a lot of interesting things which apparently included the embarrassing baby pictures, as well as posters of old bands, an acoustic guitar behind a couch, school awards from when Sasuke was just a small boy, and even a few sports medals of which were from basketball and football. She also discovered a pool in the back along with an outdoor basketball court.

All, counting Chino as well, were outside in the driveway, washing Sasuke's father's car. "I never knew you played basketball, even football. Why aren't you on any school teams?" She had a fat sponge in her hand, making white circles on the surface of the black car. She bent down to dip the sponge back into the bucket filled with murky water now and again.

Sasuke was on the other said with a sponge of his own, cleaning his side of the car. "I was just too good for the school teams." He said, grinning. Sakura looked at him with a face that said 'tell the truth or I'll sic Chino on you.' He noticed and laughed. "I guess I got bored. And besides stuff came up so I decided to quit altogether."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, but I'm not telling. They're personal." He chuckled.

Sakura knew when not to intrude on other people business. _'Something personal, eh? Maybe he broke up with a girlfriend or something like that. Or maybe he busted up a leg, who knows.'_ "What about that guitar? Don't tell me you know how to play that."

"I kinda know how to play it. I never got to taking lessons though, so I just pick it up when I have nothing else to do."

Then suddenly, Sasuke heard Sakura laugh. "Oi, what's so funny?" he straightened himself up to look over the car at the laughing girl. "I just remembered the pictures in the attic. Oh my gosh, I can't believe you didn't let me see the rest." She ceased her scrubbing of the car and continued to laugh.

"What do you expect me to do? Happily let you see the most embarrassing pictures that my parents so joyfully took shots of?" he rested his elbow on the top of the car and glowered at her. He admitted though that he loved hearing her laughter ring in his ears.

"Yes." She paused to see him give her a fiercer look and then laughed even harder. "You've got a little something right here," she pointed to her own nose. "Huh?" Sasuke looked down at the side of his nose to see a blotch of white soap bubbles. Sakura saw him cross-eyed and continued to laugh. She was going to fall from laughter already. Sasuke couldn't help but laugh along, since her laughter seemed to be contagious. "Stop laughing at me! Geez," he joked.

He looked down at his sponge and then to the dirty water. He dipped it in, all of the soap disappearing. "Hey, Sakura, I have a brilliant idea."

"What might that be?" she said between breathes.

"This." He threw the drenched sponge at her, landing on her shoulder. The contact caused the sponge to squeeze out the water it contained at her face. As the sponge fell, it revealed a surprised Sakura who hunched her shoulders at the sudden rush of cold. The icy water dripped down her chin onto her teal tank top.

"Oh, it's on, Uchiha." She grabbed the hose and at an instant, she turned it on and a jet of water blasted towards Sasuke. He quickly ducked and ran, trying to evade the stream of cold liquid but he was too late. He got a full shot in the back, sending chills down his spine. "That's cheating!" he shouted out, laughing. He grabbed his bucket and ducked so that he was unseen. She circled the car, trying to find the teenage boy. The sly young man snuck up behind the unknowing girl and splashed the contents of his bucket straight at her. In revenge she chased him with the hose.

Later, they made their way back into the house, completely soaked from head to toe. Even Chino was soaking. The little puppy shivered along with Sakura as she held herself for extra warmth. Sasuke had just come down and tossed her a towel to dry herself off with. Then he bent down and wrapped another blanket on his puppy. He himself had a towel around his neck.

"I should get you some knew clothes. You'll catch cold." He put Chino down and began to make his way back up the stairs. "Come on, I think I have something that'll fit you at least." He gestured for her to follow him.

They walked through the second floor hallway and entered Sasuke's bedroom. She hadn't been in his room yet, for he was the one who cleaned it out while she took care of the first and third floors. As they walked in, she noticed how roomy it actually was. The bed probably only took up a mere sixteenth of the whole room. _'It's like being in a hotel suit.'_ True she had been to other rooms in the house, but never the bedrooms, all because she didn't want to intrude.

Sasuke attacked his closet, searching for a small enough shirt that might fit Sakura. Taking out a black shirt with an orange Ying-Yang symbol with a grey dragon around it, he faced it to Sakura, sizing it on her. "Eh, it'll do." He gave her that and a pair of ash grey sweats. "Uh, you can change in here, I'll just wait outside." He then made his way out.

"Sasuke—"

"Yeah?" he cut back to face her.

"—thanks."

"No problem." He shut the door behind him.

Sakura began to change into the clothes that he picked out for her, letting her wet clothes drop onto the floor.

"Hey, Sakura?" Sasuke asked through the door.

"Hmm?"

"I should be the one saying thanks."

Sakura stopped moving, her arms on the opposite hips of their respective sides, fingers on the hem of her wet shirt. She was about to take off her shirt when he said, "Thanks for coming today, I appreciate it." His voice was muffled but she heard it.

Sighing, she scoffed loud enough for him to hear. "And did I have a choice?" She was now completely changed into her new, dry outfit. She bent down to pick up her wet stuff when she noticed papers under his bed, scattered. _'What are those? I thought he cleaned this place up already.'_

"Well, yeah but it would've been devastating if you said no. Besides, as promised, I have the tickets downstairs."

"Great, can't wait." She replied as she dug her hand under the bed and took a piece of paper out. Expecting the paper to be scrap, she was surprised to see that there was typing on it. She looked at the top to see the nearby hospital symbol. "Uchiha Sasuke," she read. All of the papers had his name on it and all of them were from the hospital. "Why are there so many?" she wondered quietly. She read some of each sheet. "MRI, Echo, CT scan? What the hell? All of this for a broken arm? Yeah right." No matter how suspicious it all looked, she didn't know what any of those things meant, so the information at the moment was quite useless. "Chest x-ray? What?"

Suddenly, the phone on Sasuke's side desk rang. She jumped at the sudden blare of sound. "Hey, are you done? I kinda need to get that. Other phone is too far." Sakura stuffed the papers back under his bed straight away. "Uh, y-yeah. I'm done." She stood straight with her clothes in her hands.

He walked in, passed her to get to the phone. While he looked at the caller ID, Sakura looked apprehensively at him, wondering what all the papers were about. "I'm gonna go downstairs. I'll wait for you there." With that, she disappeared down the great number of steps towards the kitchen.

As soon as she left, Sasuke answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Ah, Sasuke?" the voiced asked.

"Yeah, it's me."

"I just called as a reminder of today's appointment. You're already half an hour late."

"Uh, sorry about that. I have a friend over so I lost track of time. I think I might be a little bit late today though. Sorry again." Sasuke pocketed his left hand while he held the cordless phone with his right hand.

"Okay, it's not a problem. I'm here all the time anyway. But you very well know how long your scans and x-rays take don't you? If possible, try to make it so that you won't have to go home very late."

"Yes, I will. Thank you, Dr. Shizune."

"Alright, take good care of yourself, now."

With that, they bid each other farewell and Sasuke hung up. He placed the phone back on its stand and took out some clothes that he could change into as well. "Damn, I forgot I had to go to the doctor's today."

Meanwhile, down in the kitchen, Sakura had helped herself to a cup of tea with Chino to keep her company. She sat in a fancy high chair that went well with the interior design and used the counter as a resting place for her elbows. She blew at her tea lightly while still deep in thought. _'I shouldn't think too much into it. It's not like it's anything big. He did break his arm after all. I don't even know what those letters mean.'_ She took a sip of her tea, feeling the heat travel down her throat and into her shivering body. _'But chest x-ray? I thought he only broke his arm.'_

She placed the tea down and looked at Chino, who was lying down on the counter facing her. She had rolled up her sleeves so that they were tucked passed her shoulders. "This shirt is huge." Chino barked in agreement, making Sakura giggle. "Thanks for that." She took her hair tie and made a messy bun on top of her head. "Ugh, he's taking long. You're master's taking forever. I would swear he was a girl if he wasn't so cute." Chino's head shot up, giving Sakura a pouting look, hating the attention his master was getting from the girl.

She put her empty cup into the sink and went to the front door. She put on her sneakers and grabbed her stuff. Sasuke came down the stairs clad in black jeans and a white long sleeve shirt which was pulled up his forearms on both sides. She couldn't help but stare at him. _'Handsome as always.'_

"You going already?" Sasuke asked.

"Uh, yeah, it's already 9:40 and I promised my mom I'd be home by ten."

"Oh, okay then. Thanks again for your help today. And oh—" he vanished into the living room, only to reappear with two tickets in his hand. "Your well earned ticket." Handing her one, Chino began to bark again. Sasuke sighed. "I feel that familiar bite on my leg right about now." They both looked down to indeed see the puppy biting onto his pants.

"Seriously, why is he doing that?" Sakura just had to ask since it was bugging her all day.

"Didn't I already tell you? He likes you. As in fancy or be fond of." He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look I'll show you." Unexpectedly, Sasuke pulled her into a hug. Chino stopped biting only to continue to bark wildly. Sakura could care less why the dog was barking, for she was too engulfed in Sasuke's warmth. They seemed to fit perfectly in each other's arms. Sasuke broke away slightly and whispered. "Jealousy makes guys go crazy." He pointed down to the noisy mutt.

Sakura blushed deeply. "I-I gotta go."

"Okay, so I'll pick you up tomorrow morning since you did say you had to look for decorations for the dance. Then we'll just head off to the concert."

"'Kay. Goodnight."

Sasuke opened the door for her and watched her make her way to her car. When she left the driveway, he looked down at his dog. "One for me, zero for you, buddy." Sasuke grinned knowing that he was bugging his dog quite a bit.

* * *

Sasuke walked through a white corridor, making his way to the front desk of that department. Nurses and doctors zoomed passed him to tend to other patients. He knew this place all too well.

"Ah, Sasuke."

"Dr. Shizune."

"You're a bit tardier than I'd expected. This way." She sped to one of the many hospital rooms with Sasuke close behind, hands pocketed. "So today we'll start with the chest x-ray. Then we'll move onto the ECG. Let's try and get it over with quickly, it's getting late and the streets are dangerous this time of night." She smiled lightly at her regular patient.

"Okay, alright."

"By the way, we've moved your weekly appointments to two weeks from now, just this once because next week there is a special event happening in the hospital." She readied the x-ray machine.

"Uh, okay."

"Just make sure you take your pills and you should be fine by the next appointment, and as always, no over-exerting."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard you say this a million times. I have it practically recorded in my mind." He laughed and went up to the x- ray machine.

"Well, you know me, always concerned for patients." With that she left the room.

Sasuke sighed to himself as the x-ray began.

* * *

**A/N: so there you have it! i wonder what that's all about hmm? grin anyway. next week a relative of mine is going to be living her for a week so i duno if i'll be able to write much. plus school is starting for me in two weeks time so writing might be difficult. please bear with me and i'll have the next chapter up and running in no time at all! thanks!**

**- --writingzeaL**


	6. Bravery

**A/N:SOORRY! sorry it took so long. school finally started and i couldn't quite find the time to actually get to it...plus i had a kind of short writer's block but everything's fine now!! haha hope you like this one!**

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* * *

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**_For Eternity:._**

**Chapter 6: Bravery **

It was early morning when Sakura's mother came down the stairs, laundry basket being carried down with her. The basket was filled with clean, wet clothing that had just been washed. She was headed towards the backyard to hang dry her laundry when she heard the doorbell ring. She didn't quite know why a visitor would come so early in the day. "Coming!" she shouted, setting her laundry basket onto the couch.

As she opened the door, her eyes fell on the same handsome young she had been seeing for the past couple of weeks, the same young man who was being tutored by her only daughter. "Sasuke! Why hello, come in, come in." She said excitedly, waving him in. "I'm sorry, Sakura is still asleep. I will go and wake her. Make yourself at home!"

"Thanks, ma'am. I was just coming to pick Sakura up for drama rehearsal today. Looks like she forgot." He said, scratching his cheek sheepishly. He saw her reaction as one of surprise. "Drama rehearsal? Ah, yes! It completely slipped my mind. Today is Saturday, is it not? Well—" she said. Sasuke nodded. "—all the more reason for me to wake our sleepy beauty up." After saying that, she left up the stairs. _'Our?' _he thought.

Sakura's door opened, revealing her mother who hastily shook her daughter. "Sakura, you have a visitor." Sakura moaned and pulled the covers over her head, not wanting to destroy her sleepy state. The shaking continued on to her dismay. "Sakura! Up you get!"

After only getting groans and annoyed sounds, her mother said "What if I said your visitor was Sasuke?" To her glee, her daughter's head came from under the covers. Sakura's sleepy gaze stared up at her mother's narrow ones.

"Don't joke around, ma. I'm trying to get some sleep." She said, whining through the fabric of that which enveloped her entire body. "Well, would it wake you up if I said he's here to pick you up for drama rehearsal?"

Sakura suddenly sat up as quickly as her drowsy state could allow her. "What did you just say?" the reality of her situation slowly seeping into her mind. "Drama rehearsal?" Looking at the clock, Sakura's face went pale. "Oh crap!" She bolted to her closet. "I'll be downstairs, honey!" her mother yelled over the rampaging of her daughter.

Sasuke was now sitting on the couch, bent forward with his elbows resting on his knees. His finger intertwined together at the meeting point. _'I don't know if I should do this.'_ He thought to himself. _'I mean, I don't really wanna wreck what we've got right now. And besides, I'm close to positive that she'll say no.'_ Hearing footsteps come closer, he looked up to see Sakura's mother walking towards him. He immediately stood up.

"Sorry, it's kind of hard to wake her. And yes—" she grabbed her laundry basket and headed towards the sliding door that lead to her backyard. "—she did forget about today." She said, shaking her head with a smile. "She's the one making all of the noise upstairs."

Sasuke smiled as well. "I know how that feels." He earned a giggle from the Haruno mother, making him feel less awkward than he should. Seeing as Sakura might take longer than he would've thought, he looked over at the figure going outside. "Do you need any help with that, Ms. Haruno?" he walked out along with her.

"Oh, don't worry about this." She waved a hand dismissively at the laundry basket. "No really, I insist." Sasuke was already hanging up wet clothes as he spoke. Since he had already started, they both continued to work together and get the job done.

"So uh—" Sasuke started, not knowing how to approach the question. "Has Sakura ever, er, gone out with anybody?" He said quite nervously. Standing in silence, he tried to cover up his question. "'Cause, you know, I was just curious and—"

"Actually, no she never has." Sasuke stopped his sentence at once. "No matter how many try, she's always said no. It beats me, she's already seventeen, and she can date if she wanted to."

"Oh." He said, taking another article of wet clothing and hanging it on the clothesline.

"I think she's just scared, you know?" She said, looking at the clothing, barely sparing Sasuke a glance, for she was hinting onto what his intentions were. "Ever since her father died, she's most likely scared of losing someone else close to her. I try to tell her that she shouldn't worry about things like that, but it's Sakura. You would know how stubborn she can be." Sasuke was silent for a moment before he continued. "I guess I kinda know how that feels too." He said. "My parents passed away some time ago. I've been with my older brother since then."

"I'm sorry, dear."

"Thanks, but it's okay, really. But to the point—" Sasuke swallowed the hard lump in his throat that was growing by the second. "—with your permission, I'd like to, uh," he began to fidget with the clothing he was holding onto, "ask your daughter out." He said almost inaudibly. He took a shy peek at her reaction then looked away. Then he heard her giggle lightly, making him give her his attention, confused mostly.

"Of course you have my permission. You are the first to ever ask me that." She smiled. "Besides, considering the shirt and sweat pants she came home in last night were yours—" she held up his black shirt that he had lent Sakura, all clean and ready to dry. "—I would say you're already pretty close. I don't see why she wouldn't say yes." His cheeks turned a slight pink as he put one of his hands behind his head, giving a shy grin.

"Mom! Where's my bag?" a frantic blur of pink hair came speeding into the kitchen, grabbing a piece of toast. She held onto it with her mouth as she hurriedly put her white zip-up sweater on. Her dark skirt flowed with her every movement.

"It's in the closet on the top right, honey!" her mother yelled. "Sasuke, I wish you good luck." Sasuke nodded. "But, no matter how much I am behind you on this," she grabbed onto another article of clothing, placing it into her laundry basket, "I am first and foremost Sakura's mother and I will not let up if you let anything happen to her." Sasuke received a simple nod from the woman as he and made his way into the house.

"Morning sleepy head." He said as he slipped on his white sneakers. Sakura turned her head from the closet to Sasuke. As soon as she saw his dark blue zip-up, she knew it was him.

"Who said you had to pick me up today?" she said closing the closet and getting her shoes on as well. "If I didn't come, you wouldn't have shown up to the rehearsal, now would you?" he made his way outside.

"I'm driving." He said, flipping the keys in his hand. He then opened his car door settled himself inside the black mustang convertible.

Sakura snatched her bag and her cellphone. "Bye ma!" she shouted while stepping out of her house, locking the door behind her.

* * *

The busy streets were crammed with all sorts of cars, all different shapes and sizes. The colours gave the road a look of a long and winding rainbow scarf. Stuck in a fairly fast moving traffic jam, Sakura and Sasuke talked over continuous changes of song on the radio. 

"And did you see how she leapt onto the stage and just about scared the hell out of Ino!" Sakura said, clearly amused. "After Ino practically screamed her lungs out, the teacher fell right into the backstage costume area." Not being able to hold it in, the two burst out laughing.

"Her face was priceless! I wish I got that on camera." Sasuke said between breaths.

"She had the worst wig I'd ever seen. Plus that really bad overcoat was already crawling with who knows what! It was disgusting."

"The hat wasn't that great either. Looks like something out of a garbage bin." The cars began to move, giving Sasuke space to drive, following the line of vehicles. "But you know, not being mean or anything but geez," he continued, putting both hands on his black and blue steering wheel, "we've had those costumes since who knows when. They were definitely there when my brother first starting going to that school and that was a really long time ago." Appalled as he looked, Sakura found the information quite interesting, having never heard of it before.

"Really?" She questioned, allowing him to stop once more, waiting for the traffic to move again.

"Yeah, you never knew?"

"Nope. You seemed to have left that piece of information out of our many conversations." She pointed out.

"Which part, the part about my brother going to the same high school? Or the fact that we have a disgusting, germ infested drama wardrobe?" He said with a laugh, earning a 'you know what I'm talking about' look. "You know I mean your brother." She said. "You know I don't know much about him but I've heard little bits and pieces here and there." She said, looking at him. "Come on, there's gotta be something about him."

"Why do you want to know so badly about him? He's just my brother." The traffic was in the clear and now they were driving smoothly down the road. "Not like it's important."

"Well, if it isn't important, why not share some info?" Sakura pestered on. Sasuke knew he wasn't going to win no matter how long the conversation went.

"He was the school's soccer star all of the years he was a student there." He sighed out, giving a defeated face, trying to get her to feel guilty for forcing it out of him. It didn't seem to be working. "So, you mean to say he had the guts to be on a school team and you didn't?" she mocked.

"Wha—hey!"

"You know it's true. You're really good but you don't even try out." She raised a triumphant eyebrow to his silence. "See, you know I'm right." She giggled.

"How do you know I'm any good? You've haven't seen me play a sport at all!" he defended.

"Oh, just an instinct." As soon as she said it, she threw a pen at him, which he caught with ease as he continued to drive. She was amazed to see that the car didn't even swerve. There was only an instant where his eyes focused hard as he noticed the pen. _'Whoa, that was crazy.'_

"See? You caught that easily. You can't say that was a fluke because I saw it with my own two eyes." She grabbed the pen back, since it was hers. She loved being able to prove her point, seeing as the Uchiha couldn't say anything to counter her statement.

"Okay, we trailed off a bit on the Itachi subject," she said. "What else is there about him that you can say?"

"What is this? Do you like my brother or something? Because these questions are starting to make me suspicious." Sasuke smirked, for in the corner of his eye, he could see a reddening Sakura. He just loved to get on her nerves.

"No! Of course not. I'm just curious, what's wrong with that?"

"Well, if you really want to know," Sasuke said, never removing the smirk from his lips, "I've idolized him since I was little. I just thought he was cool because of the gang he hung out with all the time. They were the coolest looking guys I'd seen back then." He said. "Like chains and leather jackets and whatnot."

"You idolized him because he was in a badass gang?" Sakura's tone lowered at the end, giving the impression that she knew something like that would happen. "Boys will be boys." She said, shaking her head.

"What?" Sasuke said defiantly. "It's not my fault I thought it was cool, besides look at me now, do you see any difference between my descriptions and me? Well excluding the leather jackets and chains."

"So you have a gang at school, big whoop. You're still a big baby on the inside, aren't you Sasu-chibi!" Sakura cooed sarcastically. Sasuke looked at her amazed and confused.

"Sasu-chibi? Where did that come from!?" Sasuke said, trying to keep his attention on the road.

"I duno, it was inspired by your little story of looking up to your brother. Sasu-chibi. It actually fits you quite nicely, Sasu-chibi." Sasuke couldn't help but blush at the fact that she just gave him a pet name. _'Damn, stop going red!'_ he thought.

"Your blushing, Sasu-chibi! You must really like the name, eh?" she laughed, poking at his reddening cheek.

"Anyways, look up ahead. Mall's just a few minutes away. You should get ready for us to park and go in." The attempt at changing the subject didn't go unnoticed by Sakura whom continued to giggle in victory, as she sat back comfortably in her chair. "Sasu-chibi."

* * *

Sasuke walked down the aisles, directly behind Sakura by a few feet. As usual, his hands were pocketed as he looked here and there with lazy eyes, wandering aimlessly. Sakura was completely opposite. She looked around carefully, looking for the right colours and designs for the decorations. When she found something she liked, she'd smile and ask him what colours would go well with it, or how do you think this will look in the gym. "Hn…" he would say and she'd annoyingly look at him and walk on, placing the item in her basket. This routine circulated at least enough times for Sasuke to start whining. 

"Are you done yet? We've been doing this for hours now!" They sat in the food court, placing several bags onto the seats adjacent to theirs.

"Don't exaggerate so much. It was only one hour. Besides," she said, pointing to the many bags. "That's probably not enough to decorate the whole gym. Our gym is huge!" she said, getting her wallet out. "Anyway, let's eat, I'm hungry."

Sasuke's head shot up at the mention of food. "Are you sure you aren't just saying that to throw me off?" he looked at her. "Because I'm starving." Sakura giggled. "Nope, this time, I mean it."

After they both took turns to order some fast food, they both sat and enjoyed their lunch. They ate in silence. Sakura had her mp3 plugged into her ears, having the look of great concentration. Sasuke looked in curiosity at her. "What are you listening to?" he asked, yet she didn't hear him. She only continued to listen and take occasional bites of her food. "Sakura." He said plainly, still not response. "Sa-ku-rraaaa." He said with more effort.

Will no success, he reached over and yanked one of the ear pieces out. "Huh?" she said.

"You seem to be deep in thought."

"Oh, it's nothing." She took out the other ear piece and began to turn the mp3 off, but Sasuke stopped her. "Uh, do you mind if I listen?" He questioned. Sakura shook her head and gave him the mp3.

As he scanned through the songs, he noticed she was a fan of many different types of songs. _'Jazz, rhythm and blues, soft rock, hip-hop. Wow, wide variety. No wonder she's so confusing.'_ He thought, sneaking a glance up at her to make sure she wasn't reading his mind or anything. But alas, she continued to eat, still as quiet as before.

Soon, he came across a song with no title. He became curious and played it. A soft piano tune began to play. Although it wasn't much to listen to at the beginning, it began to gradually become more and more complicated, and soon, some well put chords and melodies were added. He thought it was quite good, but he still didn't hear anyone singing.

'_Humming?'_ He asked himself. Indeed, as the song continued further, an amazing voice began to sing the melody tune wordlessly. Although there weren't any words, Sasuke fell deep into the music as if the song was the most wonderful thing he had every heard. _'It's Sakura!'_ he said in his head. He then heard a small giggle in the background, the same giggle he longed to hear all the time. _'It's definitely her._' Yet again, he stole a peak at the girl; the voice he was hearing made her even more beautiful.

"Sasuke?" The interruption made him jolt. "Dude! It _is_ you! Long time no see man!" Sasuke followed the voice and found that its owner was none other than Shikamaru. "Hey, Sakura." He greeted politely, earning a gracious response.

Sasuke got up and clasped hands with his friend. "Yeah, haven't seen you in a while."

"Where have you been man?"

Sasuke looked down at the mp3 that he was still listening to, but then quickly stuff it in his pocket, leaving the headphones in his ears. "You know, I've been busy."

"Sakura!" another familiar female voice came from out of the hustle and bustle of the mall. It was Ino. "Ugh, I haven't seen you in a while. We have a lot of catching up to do!" the tickling laughter of the girls bounced off the many walls. "And apparently, you have a lot to tell me too…" Ino flashed an evil smile as her eyes darted from Sasuke back to Sakura.

"W-what are you talking about? He's just helping me with student council errands." Sakura smiled nervously, raising her hands up in defence. "Uh huh," Ino smirked, letting the sarcasm seep from her mouth.

"Anyways," she continued, "Shikamaru owes me an ice cream. He lost a bet with me this morning." Ino grinned mischievously. "Really? And you're asking _me_ questions?" Sakura slipped in. "So what have you two been up to lately, huh, Ino?" Now it was her turn to get back. "W-what are you g-getting at?" Ino asked nervously.

"Sakura!" Sasuke called. "Aren't we supposed to be looking for that stuff?" He looked quite annoyed with Shikamaru, who was suppressing a laugh. "Um, sure?" Both of the girls looked at each other with a raised brow. And then at that moment, with a few words to Sasuke, Shikamaru let out the laughter. Sasuke growled and smacked him in the back of the head. He pocketed his hands and walked. "Come on, Sakura." Sakura hurriedly followed him, looking over her shoulder at Ino, who gave the same confused shrug.

_'Stupid, why am I even thinking about asking her out! Seeing Shikamaru laughing at the thought doesn't make things any better!" _Sasuke thought, roaring in his head. _'Stupid. He probably thinks I can't do it.'_

"Sasuke, are you okay?" she asked, seeing as how he looked quite odd. She wasn't used to this Sasuke. Usually the Sasuke she knew wasn't grumbling or murmuring things to himself.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine." Still, she showed no sign of changing his actions. "Uh huh, yeah, I totally believe you." Sakura said, crossing her arms, looking at him with a raised brow and they continued to walk. "Yeah," he trailed off. _'He seems so deep in thought like back in the cafeteria with my mp3…'_ she saw that he still had the earphones in and decided that maybe it was better with him for a while. Maybe it would help him cool off.

* * *

The ageless night came and the streets were filled with explosions on light and sound as the long awaited concert was nearing its start. Crowds bunched up before the large doors, waiting impatiently for the opening of the large metal contraptions. From the door all the way down the near sidewalk, people lined up for the show. 

Sasuke drove slowly down the street as to not accidentally run over any pedestrians, while looking for a parking spot. The parking lots were all full and now he was forced to resort to sidewalk parking which he wasn't having much success at finding.

"Hurry, Sasuke! We're going to be late!" The urgent voice of Sakura came. She was gripping her seatbelt, ready to bolt out of the car. "It _was_ your fault that we were late!"

"How did I know there was going to be major traffic down the highway? Those stupid drivers get into crashes all the time, they just had bad timing!" He said, frantically searching for a parking space.

"Well, if we don't get a parking space right now, the doors are going to open and the concert is going to start without us!"

"I know! I know!" Both were now anxious and worried. "All of them are taken!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"No, over there!" Sakura pointed over the dashboard. "There's one there! Go, Sasuke!" Indeed there was one free space and will all haste, Sasuke floored it down the road to the parking spot. Although he was going fast, he drove carefully and well aware of his surroundings.

Sasuke swiftly and smoothly slipped the car into the spot and immediately turned off the machine. Both him and Sakura pushed the doors open and sped for the door. But to their misfortune, the door was quite a ways away. "Aw damn! Look how far that is!" Sasuke cursed, quickly looking at his wristwatch. "We've got about five minutes before the doors open." He judged the distance. "That looks a lot longer than five minutes to me, Sakura."

"Don't be so negative! Come on," dragging him by the sleeve, "we won't make it in time if we just stand here."

Suddenly, Sakura went head first into someone. "Sorry!" she said. As they both looked up, they saw that there were four men and they didn't look too friendly.

"Why, hello there kids. Where might you guys be going in such a hurry?" The very few lights only showed the couple mere silhouettes of their strange acquaintances, but it was clearly visible that there were four men, one of them a bit round. "You weren't headed to the concert, were you?" The atmosphere began to feel heavy, Sasuke could feel it. He also noticed that Sakura stepped back slightly, giving off the sense that she felt it too. "Wow, we were headed there too, but the thing is," the men began to circle around. "We're a few tickets short and we wouldn't mind some extra cash either. I mean, who wouldn't want extra cash now a days, hm?"

"Look, we aren't looking for any trouble." Sasuke said, taking a step forward, getting Sakura behind him. As he touched her arm, he could feel her trembling.

"Of course you're not. We aren't either. Look, the little lady there doesn't seem to be objecting to anything." Obviously, the man was referring to Sakura. This made Sasuke's irritation grow. "Come on, guys! Don't you agree? She's one of the prettier ones we've seen today, eh?" All the men began to chuckle dangerously as they completely surrounded them.

Sakura hid somewhat behind Sasuke as much as she could, gripping onto his sweater at the same time. Sasuke stood there, reaching back to Sakura's hand, squeezing it tightly to reassure her.

"Okay, if you just give us the tickets and your money, everything will go smoothly, eh? Nothing has to happen here." The man who seemed to be the leader stepped forward towards Sasuke. "So? What'll it be?" he held out his hand as if waiting for his requested items.

"Will you leave us alone if we give you what you want?" Sasuke asked, standing his ground. He never let go of Sakura's hand.

"Of course! Of course! I'm a man of my word, lad." His twisted grin told Sasuke otherwise but he had no choice. Taking out his wallet, which held the tickets and some of his cash, he tossed it to the man. "Everything's in there." Sasuke said firmly, waiting for them to take their items and leave.

Unexpectedly, as the man searched through the wallet, he chuckled. "Well, we've got almost everything we wanted." Sasuke's mind clicked as he felt Sakura tighten her grip on his hand. She began to scream as one man grabbed her arm, pulling her away from Sasuke. Another man grabbed onto Sasuke as to separate them further.

"Don't!" Sasuke held on tight. "You said you'd leave us alone!" Sasuke shouted. "Well, I had a change of mind and wanted to take the girl too, if you don't mind." They were too far from the crowds to be heard.

Sasuke's patience was at its end. His hand slipped out of Sakura's hand at the same time. "Shit!" Sasuke bashed his assaulter's rib with his elbow, causing him to escape. He then leapt at the man hold Sakura and hit him square in the nose with a full on, hard driven punch, knocking him back. The man soon let out a long string of curses, screaming as he held onto his nose.

And the fight began. From all directions, the men pounced towards Sasuke, screaming battle cries. Sakura, who had fell back onto the floor, sprung up, fear and tears painted across her beautiful features. "S-Sasuke!" she screamed, seeing that he was going against two other men, getting hit here and there. But then, Sasuke moved like a blur, knocking down both at an instant.

"Sakura! Are you okay?—" Sasuke tripped and fell first into the solid, cement ground. He let out a yelp of pain and looked back at his ankle. One of the men he fought grabbed onto his foot and pulled him back. "Sakura, run!" Sasuke yelled, catching a glimpse of the man with his wallet. He was going after Sakura, he knew it. "Get out of here! Go!"

Just then Sasuke turned and kicked at his assailant's face, allowing him to get up. But then, he noticed that he left Sakura out of his sight, which immediately caused him to whip his head at a tremendous speed. But to his dismay, Sakura was in the clutches of the fat thief.

"Look, Romeo, don't do anything funny." The thief had Sakura's wrists locked behind her with his hand, the other arm flung around her neck. She was still scared and tears never ceased to flow from her eyes. "She's quite a catch, I must say." He smirked at Sasuke. Sakura was a fighter though. She squirmed and wiggled, trying to pry herself free from his grasp.

"Let go of her." Sasuke said, slowly approaching.

"H-hey! S-stay back, or else...or else I'll…" the man was getting nervous at Sasuke's movements. In haste, the man tightened his hold on Sakura, causing her to wince. "I mean it! Don't come any closer!"

"I said let—" Sasuke's eyes grew wide as an immense pain exploded from inside his chest. He clutched onto his chest firmly as he doubled over from the pain. His breathing was shallow, and sweat beads were falling down his face. He was only a few feet away from Sakura and the thief. _'No, what the hell. I can't…she's still with him…come on…'_ He tried to get up. It seemed as if he was carrying a large heavy weight on his shoulders.

"S-Sasuke? Sasuke! Are you alr—" Sakura screamed but was forced to stop because of the hard grip around her neck.

"Is this some kind of trick, pretty boy? Cause if it is," Suddenly, a foot came in contact with the fat man's back. He grunted in pain and let go of Sakura, whom ran straight for Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" Sasuke's body completely gave way and was falling towards the ground, unconscious. Sakura barely caught him before his face hit the floor. She shook him vigorously. "Sasuke! What's wrong? Why are you like this?" but of course he didn't wake up. Only the feature of pain was left on his face. He had a large bruise on his left cheek and his nose was bleeding.

"Sakura!" Now that she heard his voice, she recognized his voice to be Naruto's. She looked at his feet to see the assailant lying unconscious. "What's going on? Who was that? And what's up with Sasuke!?"

"I don't know! What's wrong with Sasuke? During the fight he just collapsed!" she yelled worriedly. Naruto recklessly ran up beside her and bent down to look at Sasuke more closely. "Shit! He looks like he in a lot of pain." He gasped, lifting his friend up along with the help of Sakura. They both carried him, each of his arms over their shoulders. "Let's get him to the car, fast!"

* * *

**A/N: There you have it! Dun dun dunnn i wonder what's going to happen to Sasuke next? it's a fanfiction, anything can happen xD. REVIEWS please!** (p.s. damn that chapter sucked. i had soo many errors and it seemed soo...blahh. it just felt that way to me.. grr...) 

**- --writingzeaL**


	7. Jealousy Ensues

**A/N: just as a note, i found out that songs by Yiruma are SO CUTE when it comes to this pairing. i especially recommend Do You - Yiruma for SakuSasu in this chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

_**For Eternity:.**_

**Chapter 7: Jealousy Ensues**

A group of people, no more than three, were in the Uchiha mansion living room. Two stood while the other sat on one of the couches, highly concentrated on the floor. His posture only gave away his lack of confidence in the situation, but considering that it was very early Sunday morning and that just hours before, Sasuke was holding on to dear life by a thread, questioning his attitude was unneeded.

"So," one asked, "how is he?" this person stood before the large window that let in the moonlit rays, which were the only sources of light at the current time. Although it was already two o'clock in the morning, none felt like sleep would visit them that night. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He's fine now. He had a fever a couple of hours ago but it's died down. He should be sleeping peacefully in his room." It was the other who stood that answered. Clad in a white lab coat, Dr. Shizune carried her folder professionally. "I'm not quite sure what happened but bearing in mind that his condition is still unstable, he will have to come in for some tests and scans as soon as possible." She said, opening up her folder and jotting down a few things.

"Thank you for all your help, doctor." The other answered.

Dr. Shizune looked at him long and hard. "Itachi, you and I both know that Sasuke's condition is not to be taken lightly." She fixed her hair just as something to do for the current atmosphere was very suffocating. "He is definitely not fit for this kind of energy exertion." The doctor said. "What ever he's doing now, he should stop before anything else happens to him." She wrote down one last thing before she shut her folder. "He should be saving his energy and not wasting it. Stop him before—"

"Oh, for frik sake!" the one on the couch shouted. The sudden outburst startled the other two. "Would you stop acting as if you're his mother? You're his frikken doctor! You should just be worrying about how to get him better!" he shot up, rage and concern evident in his crystal blue eyes. "If you hadn't noticed, he frikken collapsed a few hours ago and right after, he comes down with a stupid ass fever." He continued on, his fists clenched. "He looked as if someone shot him or stabbed him or whatever! I know Sasuke and I've never seen him like that before. He never gets sick! So why the hell does this have to happen to him of all people!?"

"Naruto!" Itachi yelled. "Calm down." The authority in his voice seemed to tame the wild beast that threatened to come out from within Naruto. "I've known him all my life." Naruto spoke. "He's one of the best people I know if not the only one. So why him?" He whispered, eyes shut tight forcing his emotions down to the pit of his stomach.

"Naruto," Dr. Shizune began softly as if understanding exactly what he was going through. "Ever since he was first brought to the hospital, I remember that you were with him. You were both at least fourteen at the time." She walked slowly towards him with an outstretched arm which eventually landed on his shoulder. "And since then, you've always been by his side through this crucial part in his life." He raised his head so that his eyes would meet hers. "You are one of the most loyal of friends that I've ever seen. Don't ever lose that, Naruto. It's been nearly three years and I think it's one of the things that keep him alive and well even to this day." Naruto's gaze fell to the floor as he contemplated on what had been said.

"Well, I'm off. He should be fine in a few days, or even in a couple of hours. So, goodnight you two, get some rest." Her final words were said as she walked to her car which was parked out in the front driveway.

Naruto stood in the same spot that he was left at, now looking out the window. As he saw Dr. Shizune's car drive away, he let his eyes wander into the dark night sky. _'Sasuke…"_

Too tired to open his eyes, Sasuke lay awake in his bed. He had heard everything. The house was huge, making even the smallest of sounds echo and bounce off every wall in the building. Because of what he had heard from Naruto, he had finally realized how much Naruto's been going through as well. Not only was he in immense pain, but Naruto was there with him all the way.

His body felt unbearably weak. Out of everything he should've been able to move, the best he could do was twitch a few fingers and toes. He hated feeling like that. He hated feeling helpless and having to be the one that had to cause everyone so much trouble. _'Naruto and Itachi must feel terrible.'_ He thought for a moment but then shook that thought off. _'They feel that way because of me. I know Naruto's my best friend but if I had never told him about my problems, he probably would've been better off right now.'_

He soon began to feel drowsy. _'Damn drugs.'_ He strained to keep consciousness, just in case Naruto or Itachi said anything else, but he was growing sleepier and sleepier. _'What can I do? I'm getting weaker everyday…'_ and sleep over took him.

* * *

Sakura was alone in the wide empty halls of the high school she was currently attending. Oddly enough, she came really early. Not knowing why, she came anyway, thinking only of the incident that happened on the concert night. Her thoughts swam with the images of the injured Uchiha and the frightening experience she had been through. Frightening in the sense that the situation they were in was terrifying but also that she didn't know what was happening with Sasuke. She felt helpless. 

She opened her locker, the sound of which echoed across the building. She dropped off her bag and some of the binders she would be using later in the day. She assumed that Naruto would bring Sasuke straight to the hospital but again, he might've returned him to his house. Either way, she didn't feel strongly about leaving them both when she knew she could help somehow.

As she closed her locker securely, she began to make her way to her first class. Still, it was too early for classes to start, but she went along her way. _'He should be okay now. It's been two days.'_ She thought, staring at her shoes as she walked. She fell silent in her mind, blanking out unknowingly.

_'I wonder if he'll come to school today.'_ She questioned. _'At first glance, I didn't even think he could've gotten up on his own.'_ When she reached the staircases, she climbed one step at a time, slowly paced. _'Well, he did look pretty bad…'_ the image of Sasuke all bloodied up and bruise made her insides ache.

She walked along the second floor corridors while watching her shadow walk along side her. The large windows on her right blared with bright sunlight. Not wanting to feel so down, she began to hum her song to herself and to the lonely halls. Little did she know that around a few corners, there was another person who thought they would come to school bright and early too. Not even a few minutes later, they crossed paths. "Oh, hey Yukiko. Why are you here so early?" Sakura asked. She knew who the girl was for she was on the senior girl's volleyball team with her.

"Sakura, hi. I should be asking you that." She answered. Yukiko and Sakura never really talked to each other much so this was quite the event. "Well, I don't know. It's one of those days where my body has a mind of it's own."

Sakura was about to walk on ahead when Yukiko spoke up. "Hey, did you by chance go to the concert this weekend? I didn't get to go…" she said. Sakura turned and smiled slightly. "Yeah, I actually did get to go to it, well technically." Her smile lessened. "Really? Who did you go with?" Yukiko asked. "Just a couple of my friends." Sakura answered, wondering why she was asking so many questions. "Which friends? I mean, maybe I can get some details on the concert. Well of course I could get some information from you—" She was going continue but she was cut short. "I didn't actually _see_ the concert, if that's what you want details on." Yukiko looked thoroughly confused. "What do you mean?" she asked once more, adjusting her backpack to a more comfortable position in the process. "Uh, things came up." That was all Sakura could give, as she began to walk away.

'_She finally stopped asking quesions.' _"Um, Sakura," _'Ugh, spoke too soon.'_ "Yeah?" she spun around to face her inquirer. "Did you by chance go with Sasuke?" The question gave Sakura a start. "W-why do you ask?" she said, apparently still a bit taken aback. "Nothing really, I was just guessing, since you two spend so much time together and all." Yukiko said, along with a tone in her voice that had a hint of envy in it. "Well, I…er we just met up there so…like I said things came up." Sakura said, scratching her head not knowing what to say or do. "Oh, okay then, sorry for keeping you." She waved to Sakura and began to walk in the opposite direction. "Seeya, captain."

"Yeah, seeya." Sakura said softly. She was quite confused to the point where she just had to ask herself, _'What the heck was that?'_

Yukiko's thoughts were somewhat different though. "So she really did go with Sasuke." Since her back was facing towards Sakura, her face bore an angry look. "What's she doing with him anyway? I haven't heard anything about those two going out." She said through gritted teeth. "If this is true then all those other things I heard from the girls are true as well." With a clenched fist, she continued to walk at a fairly fast pace. "He probably does go to her house every week and all those drama classes together are true too." She turned the corner sharply and sped on. "Now the student council _and_ the volleyball team too? They're always together! This is starting to tick me off."

"Yukiko!" One of her comrades called out to her from the end of the hall. "Guess what?" they asked her.

"I know! I know! I've had confirmation on the subject. I just ran into Sakura down the hall." All of the girls, meaning all six of them looked at each other.

"Really? She's here? Why don't we just get it over with now!" one of the girls said. "No!" cried Yukiko with great force. "We can't do it now. If they see that she's badly injured at this time, we'll immediately be targeted since we're the only ones in the school." She pointed at the school clock. "We might be able to pull off something later today but right now wouldn't be a very smart move."

"But she's right there, alone. Can't we at least do something?" another blurted out.

"Look, I know we all hate her. For that reason alone we're together remember? We want to take her down for being so close to _our_ Sasuke." Yukiko announced. "We have to plan everything out carefully so that we won't even look the slightest bit guilty. We just have to find out how to get things to go our way." She pondered on the possibilities. "As long as she stops what ever she's doing with Sasuke, I'll be satisfied, but if she considers never even coming within twenty feet of him, I'll be very satisfied." Yukiko smirked evilly. "Let the games begin."

* * *

Sasuke walked into his English class early that morning, having only a few students entering the school and wandering around at the time. He expected to be the first one there but his surprise, he was beaten by the very person who he thought about the whole weekend. Not only that, but she was deep asleep with the side of her head resting on her crossed arms on the desk. 

He smiled as he slowly walked towards her. He first dropped off his own belongings by his desk then made his way to Sakura. He would've thought it to be funny if he found a pool of drool or if she was caught snoring but he simply found her flawless in all her features. Even though her pink tresses covered parts of her face, she was still the angel he saw her to be.

Sasuke knelt down so that he was head level with her. Cautiously, he brushed away the hair covering her face to reveal a peaceful sleeping Sakura. He hated to disturb her serene sleep but he wouldn't want her to get in trouble otherwise. "Sakura, wake up." He whispered gently.

Because of seeing her again, his mind rushed back to the day after the concert where he found himself lying down in his bed facing the ceiling, thinking of nothing except her. The day after he had heard what Naruto and the others had said.

The day of the concert, he had felt a rush of pain before he fell unconscious. He had nearly beaten himself up for leaving Sakura with that ungrateful thief. Although Naruto had explained to him that Sakura was unharmed countless times, he still had to see for himself. Without doing so, he could barely think of anything else.

He sighed to himself. How could he have grown to care for her this much? It's only been a few weeks if not a few months. He knew that maybe what he was feeling was just a spur of the moment type of kindness or thoughtfulness, but at the same time, he knew that he really truly felt something for her, he just didn't know what.

"Sakura, come on, wake up." He whispered. Seeing as nothing worked, he reached out and touched her arm lightly and shook her softly.

"Hm…" she murmured, and moments later, her eyes slowly opened, peeking lazily at Sasuke. At first, she didn't know what was going on, but when she noticed that it was Sasuke who was before her, her eyes widened and her head shot up. "Sasuke?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Taking one better look at him, she sighed loudly in what seemed to be relief. "You're okay!" she said as she hugged him tightly.

Sasuke cringed a little from pain as he leaned back on his arm for support after getting pushed back into a sitting position. The other arm wrapped around her waist in mere reaction for he thought they were going to fall over. "Yeah, I'm okay, really." He forced as he groaned in agony. "Oh! Sorry!" Sakura gasped, getting off of him immediately. The weight off of him, he sighed a little bit and relaxed, holding his stomach. "I have three bruised ribs." He pointed out. "And obviously this stupid bruise on my face in quite visible." Sakura remembered that one from before.

Upon looking at his face, she noticed that he didn't look so good. There was a slight hint of dark rings around his eyes and he looked pale. His sparkling black eyes were reduced to merely a dark and dull colour, catching Sakura's attention. Even his movements seemed to hint that his body was feeling weak and deteriorated. These features weren't too obvious, but to Sakura, who had been with him almost all the time in the many past weeks, they couldn't hide from her.

"Sasuke…" Sakura began uncertainly. "Hm?" he encouraged as he helped both of them up. "On Saturday, during the fight, you seemed, uh…" she said, not knowing how to word her sentence. "Yeah?" he said, allowing her to go on. "I mean, what happened? You seemed fine and then well you…collapse all of a sudden." She looked down at her fingers not wanting to face him directly. "I even saw you grab at your chest as if you were in great pain." She added. Sasuke's face was unseen by Sakura for she had her head bowed but if she had taken the chance to look up, she would have seen that he had a genuinely sad smile appear on his handsome features.

Sasuke was silent, unable to make his brain function on a logical answer. All he did was stair at the trees outside that blew in all directions. The leaves were tossed around gently by what seemed to be a light breeze. The bright shining sun looked upon the earth, laying shadows everywhere. Cloudless at it was, the sky housed morning birds that sang their morning song.

He knew that there was still about thirty to forty-five minutes before the bell would ring. "Hey, come on, I want to show you something." He said, grabbing her hand smoothly. Although shocked, she didn't make any objections to his offer, so she let him lead.

Now that students were arriving at the school, the two who walked by didn't go unnoticed. Whispers here and there saying, "It's Sasuke and that girl again…" or "Look they're holding hands…" Sakura overheard some saying, "So is it really true? Those two are really together?" She didn't know what to think of the situation as she was pulled along quickly by Sasuke. As if reading her mind, he squeezed on her hand, letting her know that he was okay with holding hands with her. The gesture made her feel better, but that feeling of uneasiness still crept within her.

Finally, they reached one of the exits, but they continued on through the doors. "Sasuke, where are we going?" she questioned as they continued to walk onto the school grounds. "You'll see." He answered vaguely.

They walked onto one of the many courtyard of the humungous school, although this one looked quite old. Cracks and moss were visible on the ancient looking fountain. Also, the tree roots climbed the stone walls and appeared above the cemented ground, swimming through the stones and pebbles. Moss grew on both the walls and the trees as well. Even so, Sakura thought the place was beautiful. "What is this place?" she wondered in awe. "How come I've never seen it here before?"

Sasuke let go of her hand and let her wander around the courtyard. "Well, some of the students say this place is filled with ghosts of the sort or that serial killers gather here every night, plotting their next killing spree." He said, becoming aware of the fact that she flinched a little bit. "Why are we here then?" she asked, growing a bit scared. "Don't worry, I've heard them all, but they're not true at all." He announced as he walked slowly to the fountain.

"In fact, I've been coming here with my brother since I was very young. He showed it to me even before my parents passed away. It was like our secret place." He grazed the old aged stone surface of the fountain. "Whenever we wanted to be alone, we'd come here."

"You still didn't answer my question." She said. Sasuke's head came up, his face carrying a confused look. "Why are we here? I don't get it. I know it's beautiful, but classes are starting soon." Sakura said.

Sasuke blushed, but only the slightest as he pocketed his hands and shrugged, not looking at her. "You seemed so down in the classroom. It's not like I died or anything." he spoke. Sakura didn't know what to say. He did that all for her sake, just so she wouldn't be so gloomy. She couldn't believe how sweet the Uchiha could be sometimes.

"Besides, look over there." He nudged his head towards the entrance of the courtyard. An old, rope swing attached to a tree swung lightly with the wing. "I didn't see that there before!" she said excitedly and ran up to it. At the moment that she ran, Sasuke let out the breath that he had held due to the nervousness of his body.

"You think it's safe to sit on?" Sakura asked, tugging on the ropes. It looked sturdy enough, although it was probably put there long before they came to that school. "Try it out." He said, walking over to the swing as well, also being shaded from the sun by the large tree. She carefully took on seat on the wooden plank, evening out her weight and testing if it could actually hold her off the ground. To her glee, it didn't break. "I think it works." She lightly kicked off the ground and the ropes began to sway, letting the swing rock back and forth. It rocked like a pendulum, not too high or too fast, but just the right way, making the courtyard that more peaceful to look at. Sasuke smiled upon seeing her happy at what he brought her too.

He leaned up against the tree that held the swing in its branches. For some reason, the rest seemed to east his body. _'I can't believe one measly fight got me all beat up like this. I feel terrible.'_ he sighed as he let his head lean back onto the trunk of the tree as he closed his eyes. He sighed out a weary breath. _'But I don't regret coming to school.'_ He thought, peeking at Sakura.

The wind blew gently through her hair, captivating Sasuke with that one peek. _'Asking her out is harder than I thought…'_ he pocketed his hands and forced his eyes shut. _'Well, it seems like I just have to find the right timing.' _he thought.

Sasuke suddenly found himself walking to the swing and taking the ropes in both of his hands. He lightly pushed on the swing so that it went a bit higher but not too much. Sakura was startled as the swing seemed to have had a mind of its own, but when she realized it was Sasuke, she looked up and smiled. "Thanks for bring me." She said, not able to bring herself to look at him that closely, knowing that she would probably turn red.

"No problem." He said as he continued to push. _'So I had to have a near death experience to realize that I loved Sakura. Sasuke you're pathetic.' _He thought to himself with a grin.

* * *

Later that day, Yukiko walked swiftly passed corridors and corners as she ventured toward the gymnasium, in search of a certain someone. This certain someone had suddenly come into her mind as she plotted against Sakura. She couldn't believe how she could've missed it. It would be perfect. 

As she entered the gym, she saw three boys. Two at the moment were playing an intense game of one on one basketball. "Take your best shot, Kiba!" Shikamaru yelled, taunting the teenager.

"We'll see about that, Shikamaru." Kiba shouted back. Naruto sat on a bench drinking his bottle of water. He had a towel draped around his shoulders, using it to wipe away sweat. Apparently, he had lost a game to Kiba just a few minutes ago.

She could've cared less about what they were doing. All she wanted was a word with Kiba. Seeing as they were the only ones in the gym, she called out to him. "Kiba!" she said. The boys stopped all actions and looked towards the approaching girl.

"Yukiko? What are you doing here?" Naruto stood up and asked, walking over to the boys. "I just came to talk to Kiba about something." She answered, waving for Kiba to come outside for a moment. The gang looked at each other confused. "Well, come on!" she yelled, walking out the door.

"What's with her?" Shikamaru questioned. "She never talks to you. But then again," Shikamaru nudged his head in Naruto's direction, indicating that he would take Kiba's place in the game. "What reason would anyone have to talk to you, dog boy?" Shikamaru chuckled, earning a playful punch to the arm from Kiba. "Yeah yeah, I'll be right back, got it? We're not finished yet." And Kiba ran for the door.

Suddenly, Yukiko's head popped back into the gym. "Oh, by the way, why isn't Sasuke with you? Aren't you guys like always together?"

"I think he's using his extra block to help Kakashi out. Then I think he'll be going to see Sakura." Naruto said, checking the gym clock, which indicated that school was almost over. He got a nod from Yukiko as she continued out along with Kiba. _'Sakura again!'_ She thought angrily.

Stopping just outside the gym doors, Yukiko looked at Kiba face to face. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Kiba asked. Yukiko grinned evilly. "I've got loads to tell you…"

* * *

"Okay, so tomorrow we're going to finish up the decorations in the gym." One of the student council members mentioned to Sakura. "Maybe, tomorrow at around lunch? Actually, when's your extra block Sakura?" he asked as they both walked down the halls carrying their bags and binders. It was already the end of the day and the last bell rung a few minutes before. 

"My extra block is the last block tomorrow." Sakura answered. "So, maybe I'll get some people to help finish up the rest of the things you guys don't finish at lunch." She said, bidding their farewells to each other as they parted ways. Sakura continued down the hall towards one of the exits as the other took a turn and headed deeper into the school building.

It was time to go home for Sakura, seeing as the next day would be a long one. "First, I'll have to finish up that stupid project before I can do anything else tonight." She said to herself. "During my extra block, I'll head down to the gym with maybe some of the girls my block before that. Then after that, the last school bell will ring and I'll have to prepare for the dance. Ugh," she sighed, letting her shoulders drop. "I can't believe the dance is tomorrow. I have so much to do but 'of course it's mandatory for all student council members to attend the dance'" she said sarcastically, adding a bit of annoyance in her tone. "It's not like we're there for the actual dance anyway, we're just there because we're the ones who organized it."

As she opened the doors and walked out onto the concrete of the school campus, she was confronted with Kiba, whom she recognized to be one of Sasuke's friends. "Oh, hey Kiba." She said kindly, but continued to walk, considering that she was in a hurry to get home. Before she could even take three steps, Kiba grabbed her forearm, spinning her around to face his angry eyes. She was suddenly terrified, not because he seemed to be in such a rage, but because her last experience during that concert day was still fresh in her mind. "K-Kiba, that hurts." She said weakly.

"You know, come to think of it, I haven't spent time with Sasuke in like weeks." Kiba started, ignoring her plea. "The more he spends time with you, the more he's forgetting about his real friends." He spat, as if saying she was less important that him. "Ever since he was stuck doing slave work with you," he said angrily, "He's always told us he had other things to do. He doesn't even hang out with us that much anymore either."

"Look Kiba, I just—"

"Just leave him alone!" Kiba burst out loud, tightening his grip on her even further. "W-what?" she squeaked. At Kiba's sudden outburst, students began to notice that there was something going on and began to crowd around. "You heard what I said, leave Sasuke alone." He said firmly, not even noticing the gathering of students.

Sakura had long since dropped her binder and stood frozen in front of Kiba. "But, I can't just le—" she was again interrupted. "I don't care! I don't even know why Sasuke hangs around you so much! Knowing him, he's probably just following Tsunade's orders. I know he's good at faking his nice boy act." Suddenly, he threw her arm away, causing her to stumble back and stroke her sore forearm. "Yeah, I bet when all of the work he's doing is over, he'll probably forget all about you, just like that." He said with an evil chuckle. She had no clue how to take the news. She didn't know if she should believe the terrible things he was saying or if she should shun out all of the information. Either way, she was quite shocked to hear such words coming from one of Sasuke's friends.

Suddenly, Sakura found herself running away from Kiba with tear-filled eyes. Due to the embarrassment, she failed to notice that her eyes began to water during the intense talk. Seeing as there was no turning back, she ran blindly through the whispering crowds. _'Why am I even crying!? This is stupid!'_ she thought.

Without warning, she ran straight into someone. She half expected the person to shout and yell things that would make her feel worse or maybe even keep her there in front of the crowd as something laugh at. But none came true, for the person she ran into held onto her soothingly. She found that her crying face was on the person's shoulder, tear drops causing the fabric from the owner's sweater to turn dark. To her ears, she heard the crowd gasp loudly.

A few seconds later, she heard a voice speak to her. "Sakura, what happened?" and at an instant, she knew who it was; Sasuke. Not knowing how to react, she just stayed where she was, trying to stop herself from letting what seemed to be useless tears fall down her face. _'I feel like I should get mad right now but…'_

Soon, his two gentle hands caressed her face, wiping away the salty tears with his thumbs. Sasuke realized what had happened for he could see Kiba grinning stupidly, thinking everything would be alright after what he did. He heard from the gossiping students that Kiba was being a butthead and that Sakura had it coming to her and all sorts of other pieces of information that flew in the atmosphere. Puzzling the pieces together, Sasuke dropped his vision from Kiba to Sakura. "Look, he's being an asshole, alright? Don't worry about whatever he said to you. Whatever it was, I'll deal with it later, okay? Come on, let's go." He helped Sakura with her stuff and took her hand in his, pulling her towards his car.

"Oi, Sasuke! Dude," Kiba yelled out, chuckling. "Don't worry, I took care of that annoying girl, Haruno, for you. So you don't have to take her anywhere to explain it, she's got the picture." Sasuke stopped in his tracks upon hearing Kiba's voice. Sakura also stopped but felt horrible after hearing what he said. It was for real then, the whole bit about Kiba telling her off. It was real.

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Stay here, okay? Don't go anywhere. I've got to talk to Kiba for a sec." He then left, making his way towards the middle of the crowd. The students opened up the circle so that it was now in the shape of a giant "u". They all watched intensely, wanting to know how the Uchiha would act.

"Man, you should've seen me, I was on fire!" Kiba boasted, Sasuke played along. "Sorry man, I wasn't there at all! What happened anyway?" Sasuke asked curiously. "Okay, so Yukiko told me all that stuff about how you hated that Haruno girl being around you all the time right? And how you couldn't avoid the work with her, right?" Kiba explained boyishly, bragging about his latest accomplishment. "So I just told her stuff about how you're just going to leave her anyway afterwards. She seemed horrified man, it was crazy." Sasuke looked at him with a twinge of despise but continued his act. "Oh yeah? Man I missed out!" Sasuke chuckled, Kiba slapping him on the back playfully as he did. "But you know what? I think there's still a little bit more fun left." Sasuke said.

Unexpectedly, Sasuke lashed his fist square into Kiba face. It was as if time stopped at that very moment. Sakura saw what Sasuke just did and gasped with wide eyes. _'He…hit him?_' she wondered surprisingly.

Due to the force of the impact, Kiba fell onto his backside, yelling curses of all kinds. The crowd shouted in surprise. Wiping his nose, Kiba found that he was bleeding rapidly. "Shit, Sasuke! What was that? Aw frik, I think my nose is broken." He looked up at Sasuke with raging eyes. "My hand slipped, asshole." Sasuke turned and was soon with Sakura again. "Come on." He took her hand and led her away.

"Damnit Sasuke! Get back here! If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Kiba yelled from the ground but Sasuke and Sakura were already getting into his car. Kiba shot up and began to run for the car, but people held him back, pulling with all their might to stop the boy from getting into deeper trouble. "Let go! I need to get that bastard!" He shoved students after the other but he still couldn't escape.

The car drove off down the road, leaving Kiba as mad as ever. "Shit!" he roared.

* * *

**A/N: that's chapter 7 for you guys! reviews please as always. I'm starting to up the anti a bit with some conflicts, er well trying to but i hope they work out anyway. thanks! and don't forget those Yiruma songs. They're all classical piano with no lyrics but don't let that get you down. they're all really cute! hahah.**

- --writingzeaL


	8. At Last

_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 8: At Last**

"Sorry about today," she spoke as they both slowly walked towards her doorstep. After just experiencing a violent event, Sakura eyes were puffy and red, showing that she had wept almost the whole ride from the school to her house. She sniffed continuously while wiping her eyes of excess tears now and then. "I just—"

"Hey, hey. Don't worry about it." Sasuke said with his hands pocketed and shoulders shrugged, encouraging the fact that he didn't mind the whole thing. Not knowing what else to say, the two fell silent.

Sasuke's left hand ached and throbbed. That hand was the one he used to punch out Kiba, which he thought wasn't very smart, considering he had just taken off his cast the day before; his hand wasn't very strong yet. Still, he said nothing.

Their pace was surprisingly snail slow. They didn't seem to be in any hurry to get to the door. In fact, the closer they got, the slower they became. Although most of their other silences were fine, this one was quite uneasy. As they stopped on her doorstep, they faced each other. Sakura hung her head low as her fingers fiddled around nervously. Finding words to say at the moment was as easy as getting meat away from a hungry lion. It wasn't so good on Sasuke's side either. He was a guy, what did he know about girls? Aside from the fact that when girls get angry, they go wild, he didn't know much else.

"Okay, so here's the thing," he started, catching the attention of the young girl. "If you're still mad," he pointed to his cheek, wincing as if he was bracing for pain, "take your best shot." Still in shock, she looked at him curiously, slight evidence of a grin appeared. "Come on, I know you can give a pretty good right hook," Hearing her chuckle, he smiled and continued on with his act. "Now don't get me wrong! I promise as soon as I wake up in the hospital, I'll say it was my fault that you punched the daylights out of me."

Sakura giggled and playfully punched him in the face. Sasuke dramatically let his head go as a follow through for the hit. They both laughed, bringing the light mood back again. Sasuke felt that his mission was accomplished. "Aw, come on, was that it?" then he placed his hand on his face. "Oh yeah, that's gonna bruise." He teased.

Their laughter soon died down as they both casually stood, smiling at each other for what seemed like hours. Sasuke anxiously rubbed the back of his neck, summing up the courage to speak. "So, I was just, er, wondering if, uh—"

"Sakura!" Both of their heads spun to the intruder. It was Naruto, quickly jumping out of his car and speeding towards them. Sasuke turned to Sakura with a defeated face. "Hit me now, hit me again." He pleaded, both because of the sudden unwanted intrusion and the fact that he got tongue tied while trying to ask a simple question. _'Someone up there really hates me.'_

"Sakura, are you okay? I heard all about it from the kids that were crowded around the school." Bending over panting, he huffed between words. Looking up, he acknowledged Sasuke for the first time. "Nice punch man, you fractured his nose." Naruto gave a thumbs up to his best friend although the positive gesture wasn't returned. Sasuke glared at him, fire burning in his spirit.

"Gee, thanks man." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"I mean seriously, how did you, of all people get the energy to do that? If I were in your condition, I wouldn't have even been able to lift up my arm. I'd be as weak as hell, but then again, maybe the doctor did something to fix you up a bit—hey!"

Sasuke was right behind Naruto in a jolt as he began to shove his friend back towards the cars. The Dobe continued to complain, wondering why he was being treated that way. Sasuke leaned in so his mouth was right up to Naruto's ear and hissed loudly enough from him to hear. "I haven't told her about my sickness yet. Don't go giving away anything! And I mean _anything!_" Sasuke spun around to meet Sakura, whom was slowly getting farther and farther away as he continued to push his friend out the front gate. "I'll see ya around! I've just got some, er, stuff to do, so I'll just talk to you later." He said, laughing awkwardly as he went. With that, he gave Naruto one final push as they walked towards their respective vehicles.

Sakura stood on her porch just as confused as ever. _'…doctor, condition, even your fainting spells and the papers under your bed. When will you tell me what's going on, Sasuke?'

* * *

_

As the two boys entered the Uchiha domain, the taller of the two threw his keys on the counter and hung his jacket up in the closet. The other slipped off his shoes and made his way into the living area. The pondering crystal blue eyes concentrated hard. "When did you plan on telling her?" They both drove to Sasuke's house to just hang out for the rest of the evening, but quite obviously, Naruto was thinking about something else.

"Look, I was going to tell her sooner or later," Sasuke said, closing the closet doors. "It's just, I need to find the right time to say it."

"Yeah, right. You mean when you're stuck in a hospital bed?" Naruto's tone of voice startled Sasuke.

"Hey man," Sasuke chuckled, thinking maybe Naruto was just joking around but he was immediately cut off.

"You don't know how much this affects the people around you, do you?" Clenching his fist, back facing his friend, Naruto continued on after hearing no response. "Look at you. You've had at least two heart attacks in the past couple of weeks. You're getting weaker by the day and there's nothing we can do! You know how helpless we feel?" he turned around, flashing his raging eyes.

Sasuke could barely utter a single word, for Naruto's feelings came on too strong, leaving him bewildered. "None of this is going to change the fact that I love her, you know that." He said calmly, knowing that he spoke the truth himself. "I've been angry for too long; angry because of my condition, angry because I can't fix it. I've had too much of it. I'm not going to just sit around anymore." He explained as best he could. "With whatever time I have left, I'm going to use it to just live my life—"

"You're hurting her, you know that right?" the raging teenage boy blurted out. "From the time you had an inkling of love fill your brain, that's what's been happening. How do you think she's going to take the news, huh? The fact that you're dying, how would she react?" Naruto shouted. "I tried to let it go before, thinking that you didn't have anything like this planned—"

"I didn't plan it! It just happened to me!" Sasuke let his voice loose, forgetting that he was trying not to add to the growing argument. As soon as Naruto mentioned the subject about Sakura's reaction, something clicked. He already felt horrible about the whole fact that she was already sucked deep into his problem; he didn't need someone else to remind him. "I didn't plan on falling for her; I didn't even plan on getting sick! I'm just the lucky bastard that happened to get this stupid disease! You think I like being sick? You think it's just hard on you?" They stared each other down, piercing holes into each other's faces. "You think I didn't know that everyone was getting hurt?" he said as an afterthought, leaving the air of questioning in the atmosphere. "I don't say anything because even if I complained, I know nothing will change. I'll still be weak, I'll still be sick, no matter what." At the soft statement, there was still a hint of anger, but not towards Naruto, towards the fact that he knew that nothing could be done.

They both stood letting the silence fill. The space of time just after their strong words was so long that they almost forgot that they were having a fight just moments before. The tick-tock of the clock paced as it echoed through the house. "But when you don't say anything, our worry grows because all we can is watch." Naruto grabbed his shoes and put them on quickly. Making his way out of the door, he made his last remarks. "Sakura's smart. I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew." Sasuke's eyes grew wide, pondering on what was said. "And if she does, she probably feels the same way we all do. For her sake I hope you tell her." And with that, he shut the door behind him, leaving Sasuke to swim in his thoughts.

* * *

It was the night of the dance, the night that the whole student body had anticipated since the beginning of the month. The halls were filled with high energy and excitement, all from which were being transferred through out the entire school. It was only midday and already, most of the teens chattered amongst themselves, bragging about their hot dates and their plans for proper attire. Although that atmosphere had broken through mainly the whole high school population, a small few had other things on their minds. 

"Yukiko! I heard that plan was fool proof." One of the many angry fan girls shouted over the load roaring of teenagers in the corridors. "I saw what happened with Kiba, you know. I'm not entirely stupid!"

"Yeah! And Sakura was in the school by herself that morning too! Some of us wanted to just take her out right then and there, but no! Somebody had to just tie us up on leashes and chain us to the ground!" Another angry fan girl bellowed, and this one was quite the scary one, all three hundred pounds of her. "I was just itching to crush her!" she made a squishing motion with her two enormous hands.

"Whooaaa, slow down there Big Bertha, we don't want to get expelled!" Yukiko finally spoke up. She took a few steps away from the rampaging rhino as she began to try and defend herself and her little mess-up. "Okay, so the whole Kiba plan didn't work out so well," she spoke, leaving the others to lean in and wonder what other menacing plans they had in store. "But, it's the day of the dance. We'll find out something."

"Well we'd better find that something soon cause if I didn't know any better, that little incident only made those two closer than ever."

"You have a point. I thought Sakura was just going to run off like a scared chicken before Sasuke would show up." Yukiko bit her nail, considering other possibilities. "We could always sneak around a little bit and find some dirt on her." She suggested. Some nodded in agreement but some looked at each other doubtfully.

"That's going to take forever. She's one of the most popular girls in school, who would have dirt on her?" One of the hesitant ones questioned.

"I don't know! That's the reason why we sneak around, get it?" Yukiko was getting frustrated with the lack of results. She was stomping her feet and letting out yelps of anger.

Suddenly, the whole lot of them began to argue back and forth across the circle, blaming the other for something that was totally unrelated. This only added to the growing beast inside of Yukiko, which not only was growling and ready to pounce but was also scratching and kicking. Then, her sonic gossip ears heard the name 'Sakura' in a conversation and immediately hushed her little posse.

"—why doesn't he ask Sakura out already?" Two boys were talking to each other by one of the vending machine, which were merely a few feet away from the girls. As they all hushed up, they listened intently to the exchange of words.

"Don't ask me dude, I have no clue. You're one of his close friends, you of all people should know already." The unfamiliar boy spoke, taking his drink out of the vending machine.

"I'm not exactly one to say anything since I haven't gotten the guts to ask the girl I like out either." With his brown hair and lazy eyes, Shikamaru dropped some loose change into the vending machine.

"So you mean," the other started. "that Uchiha Sasuke actually likes this Haruno girl?"

"Well, yeah, I mean the guy has completely fallen head over heals for her. I don't know what she did, but she's got the famous Uchiha eating out of the palm of her hand." Shikamaru answered a-matter-of-factly. He took a quick sip of his drink. "And by the looks of it, she likes him too. It's just that, they haven't admitted anything yet. I feel like I want to smack him in the head and tell him that he should ask her out already. Geez, I really don't see what's wrong with that."

"You know, the dance is tonight. Maybe if he has the guts, he'll ask her out today." As they conversed for several more minutes about the do's and don'ts of asking a girl out, they both gathered their bearings and said their last remarks.

"Thanks for the heads up man but seriously, Ino is one tough girl. Even asking her out could mean my death if I do it wrong." Shikamaru scratched his face nervously at the thought of making the wrong move. He imagined his head being blown right off his shoulders.

"I still say the couple of the year is Haruno and Uchiha. I bet you ten bucks that he's going to ask her out today." Shikamaru heard the bet and smiled mischievously.

"Make it fifteen and it's a deal." As they shook on it, they both turned and began to walk slowly back towards their classes, for their break was nearly over.

"Seeya, man. Don't forget to bring your fifteen bucks tomorrow." The boy yelled.

"I won't need to." Shikarmaru replied with full confidence.

"Girls, girls! Did you just hear that?" Yukiko began eagerly. "We've got to stop that relationship from going any further! You heard Shikamaru! He's positive that Sasuke will as her out!" The entire circle began to mumble and murmur. "Look class is about to start so we'll have to talk about this later, but for now," she leaned her evil head towards her right, the direction in which every other head turned. Sakura could be seen talking with many of the student council members. "Let's have some fun before school ends, shall we? I know we need to blow off some steam, but hey remember," Everyone looked at her. "Don't screw her up too much."

* * *

"Hey! I told you, it's not like that!" A blushing, beet red Sakura sat in the empty school cafeteria, an hour after school had ended, with her best friend, and major mastermind of humiliation, Ino. Ever since Sakura had taken a break from decorating the gym, Ino had never ceased to bombard her with endless questions and antics about a certain popular high school boy, whom all knew as Uchiha Sasuke. 

"Come on, you've got to have _some_ details. I mean, you two have always been together for so many weeks now. The least you could do is tell me something." Ino leaned in, playfully smiling. Although such things were being said to Sakura about Sasuke, the said boy wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Ino!"

"What? What did I do? All I said was that you two look really cute together. I'm not the only one that thinks so you know." Ino saw her friend lean back in her chair and sink lower and lower. "See, you agree!" For that statement, Sakura lightly kicked her on the leg under the cafeteria table.

"If you have to know, today isn't one of Sasuke's chattiest days, that's for sure." Sakura tried to regain her composure, but of course Ino was there to just bat it back down.

"Aw, you miss him that much? How sweet, I'm glad you told me." The mere sarcasm of her words only made Sakura twitch with irritation.

"Look! It just seems like there's something bothering him, that's all." The pink-haired girl looked over to the side, wanting to look at anything but Ino for she feared she would blush even more if she made any eye contact with her.

"Again, I repeat. 'That's so sweet.' You're worried!" Again she was kicked.

"Geez, do you have to tease me about this today?" Ino just laughed despite the fact that there was a light throbbing in her leg. "I have more important things to worry about anyway, so if you would mind…" Sakura said, raising her eyebrows up, indicating that she was serious.

"What other things? A date for the dance? Didn't I just say go with Sasuke? 'you two look so cute together and I'm not the only on that thinks so.'" Again, the cycle continued; Sakura's face turned bright red, Ino laughed and Sakura kicked her in the leg. "Okay, okay I'll stop!" Ino said, raising her hands in defence, but then burst out laughing nonetheless.

"Ino! Ugh," Sakura crossed her arms across her chest and pouted, trying to push the blush down to nothing. _'I'm thinking of Sasuke, true, but it's about his problem, not about the dance. I wonder if…'_ "Hey Ino," Sakura began as soon as the laughter died down.

"Yeah?" Ino wiped the tears from her eyes, waiting for Sakura to continue.

"Does Shikamaru ever…mention anything about Sasuke to you? I mean like anything about his health or the reason why he's never at school on Friday's?" Sakura hoped that her worry for the boy wasn't anywhere near visible on her facial features. But indeed she was worried as hell about Sasuke.

Abruptly, a streamer bonked Ino square on the head. "Hey! Watch it!" she yelled. One of the decorators apologized countless times, asking that Ino would not hurt him. Sakura was a little bit startled at the sudden intrusion of thought. While Ino grumbled on, Sakura decided to take her leave before she had to return to the gym.

"Look, never mind about what I said. Forget about it. I'm just gonna go to my locker, I forgot something." By the time Ino said her good-byes, Sakura was already speed walking down the hall.

"Why did I ask her? It's not like she's going to know…I doubt something like this would be relayed from Shikamaru anyway." She began to slow down as the decorators began to die down to a minimum. She really didn't have anything to get from her locker, she just needed to get away before she gave away too much. "I should get back."

"Sakura!"

Sakura flinched upon hearing her name echo across the waxed school floors. She turned to see Yukiko. "Oh my gosh, you scared me." She let out a sigh of relief. Smiling, she trotted her way to her team mate, but then she began to slow down and her smile began to fade to a curious frown as one by one, more girls began to appear, all with menacing looks plastered onto their faces. "Yukiko? What's going on?" the uneasiness failed to hide itself in her words.

"Oh, it's nothing! Well, nothing really. It's just something we've wanted to say to you for a long time. You see," she and her gang began to slowly make their wait to Sakura. "Since you're the senior girl's volleyball team captain, a member of the student council, and you're a tutor in your spare time, we figured, maybe this was the only way we would get to talk to you." They were now almost nose to nose as Sakura's uneasiness began to eat away at her insides.

'_This is bad.'_ She gulped. "Wh-hey, do we really have to do this now? I have to get back to the gym."

"Oh, we promise, it'll only take a few seconds."

* * *

The dance was within minutes. The full moon shone its bright white light down upon the school. Clad in semi-formal attire, and just as handsome as always, Sasuke trudged down towards the gym with an infuriating Shikamaru tailing him not too far behind. 

"You've got to ask her out today! Come on! What other perfect day than today could you ask her out?" Still, Sasuke walked on, making a quick turn but never losing pace.

"You can afford to lose fifteen bucks, Shikamaru. It was your fault for making a stupid bet." Sasuke quickly checked his watch.

"Money? That doesn't matter to me! I just want to see you and Sakura happy together!"

"Liar." Another turn was made.

"Okay, okay, so there's fifteen bucks on the line, so what? I just want to see you ask her out. It's been how many weeks already? I'm not an idiot you know, I know you like her. And besides, she likes you too, we all kn—"

"Shikamaru!" Sasuke was reaching his patience limit. They both stopped just outside of the gym doors as they both faced each other. "If I'm ever going to ask her out, it will be because of my decision, okay? Now I've got to get in there. Who made the rule that it was mandatory for all student council members to attend the dance anyway? It's just brainless." Sasuke then made his way through to the gym, leaving Shikmaru outside, devastated at his for sure loss of fifteen bucks.

Once inside, the room was dimly lit and the principal stood on the stage, spotlights on her. Everyone stood around the middle of the gym, leaving a large gap where the supposed 'dance floor'was, waiting for the principal's announcement. Sasuke made his way to the front so that he could see the stage better.

"Welcome students! As you all know…" as Sasuke looked around, he found that the principal's voice began to fade away slowly, becoming a mere mutter in the distance. Before his eyes, no mater how dark it was, he had caught a glimpse of the most beautiful girl in the room. His breath was caught in his throat as he gazed upon her radiance. There, standing just a few metres away to his left, Sakura stood, with a faint smile decorating her flawless features.

Clothed in a black jacket covering her spaghetti strap dress, whose soft material just about draped over her knees, she looked amazing in his eyes. Her hair was held up in a high messy bun, held together by a jade hair clip. Her jade necklace only added a glimmer to her face, which barely adorned any sign of make-up, showing off her natural beauty.

Suddenly, he was shoved onto the dance floor, surprise and confusion evident on his face. "Wha..?" He looked around and saw that there was a spotlight that not only shone on him, but also shone on that one person he had been completely memorized by.

"Thank you for volunteering Sasuke," Tsunade nodded to him, looked over to the other teen. "Sakura."

"Volunteer…?" Sasuke scanned the audience and saw an oddly gleeful Shikamaru, giving him a thumbs up. "Stupid little…" The same went for Sakura as she glared at Ino for shoving her onto the floor.

"Well, queue the music!"

The two walked towards each other so that they could hear each other over the slow song that had just begun. "I'm up for it if you are." She said.

"Alright." He smiled teasingly and dramatically stepped back and bowed, reaching out his hand in a very gentleman-like manner. The hooting and cheering of the audience only made her blush even more. She glowered at him but couldn't contain her happiness as she smiled. She took his hand as they launched into the song, swaying gently to the music. Hand in hand, Sasuke place his other hand on her waist. She laughed along with him as they danced away the song. He spun her occasionally and playfully dipped her as they continued to enjoy their time together. Soon, more and more people began to grab a partner and began to dance and pretty soon, the whole gym was swaying to the same music.

"Come on," Sasuke said as he took her hand and led her through the crowd in the direction of exit. When they opened the door, the song changed to a fast paced one, everyone yelling, having the time of their lives. Sakura on the other hand was confused.

"Why are we leaving the gym? Isn't the whole point of a dance to stay at the dance?" she asked, still being led through the school, still hand in hand.

As they got farther away from the dance, Sasuke slowed down and established a relaxing, calm pace, yet he never released her hand from his. Not that it was a problem. Both seemed to enjoy the other's company.

"So, you like how the decorations ended up?" he questioned as they leisurely strolled, heading for what seemed to be one of the outdoor courtyards.

"What are you talking about? I put half of it up!" she looked at him with disbelief and a smile. She couldn't seem to stop smiling. Maybe it was because they had their first dance together or the fact that his warm hand's presence never left her own.

"Well, yeah, in the gym. But did you get to see the courtyards yet?" As she came to think of it, she didn't really get the time to take a peek.

"No, not really." She said. Sasuke pushed the exit doors open, letting the light breeze blow into the school. Sakura took a deep breath in, inhaling the fresh air.

"Then, it's your lucky day. I just happened to have decorated that area myself, along with some assistance but it's pretty damn good, if I do say so myself." She giggled at his comment as she walked through to the other side of the door, still holding his hand gently.

In awe, she gasped and scanned her surroundings. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the gorgeous lights that were sprawled through the trees and bushes. Just by the way they were tactically set up, the fountain in the middle seemed to glow as it was bathed in the luminosity. That particular courtyard was right before a vast landscape of flowers, always known as their school mini-meadow. No matter how 'mini' it was, the scenery looked enchanting. Too top it all off, the stars and the moon weren't ashamed of showing themselves that night, making the sky appear as if it was smiling down at them.

"Y-you did this?" the sheer squeak of a response to the design was more than enough to tell Sasuke that she was entirely amazed. She gradually paced to the fountainas Sasuke let her hand slip away gently. He was shortly saddened by the disappearance of the warmth but it soon vanished when his mind flooded with other thoughts, important thoughts that he had to get off his chest.

"I'd be lying if I said that I just sat in a chair and watched the others work." He replied, hoping that his voice didn't sound as shaky as his insides felt. He followed behind her just as slowly, seeing only her back as he advanced.

"How? It's as if everything is put where it was meant to be put. The place is just way too impressive to believe!" she let her dainty fingertips dip lightly into the surface of the cool spring of water. Little did she know, Sasuke was right behind her.

Sasuke inhaled deeply, trying to calm his beating heart. _'Now or never.'_ He told himself.

While Sakura was looking down at her reflection in the clear water, she noticed that her jacket sleeve went up a little bit, leaving her forearms to be exposed to the cold. But it wasn't the chill that caught her, it was the bruises that showed fully in contrast to her light skin. A sudden rush of pictures from earlier that day filled her head. The sound of lockers banging and the group of girls, that she had discovered hated her guts, accompanied the images. _'What am I doing? I can't be here with Sasuke. I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone else…'_ She had spun around quickly and hid her arm before Sasuke could notice, but in doing so, she accidentally, but painfully, bashed heads with the tense Uchiha boy.

"Ow!" they both burst. In reaction to the impact, they both shot their hands up to their aching spots and immediately began to utter apologies.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to—" Sakura let out.

"No, that was my fault, I just—"

"I guess I spun a little too fast." She laughed a little bit, still rubbing her head.

"Yeah, that could've been it." He chuckled quietly. Yet again, they were forced by some higher power, to face each other once more. They locked eyes as if that was all that was needed in their conversations as of late. But then again, they always end up in situations similar to the one they were presently in. Just as Sakura was getting lost in the moment, the nagging voice of Yukiko came rushing back into her conscience and made her avert her gaze to anywhere but Sasuke.

"Hey, I think I have to get going ba—"

"Will you," he said hastily, cutting Sakura off. Silence ensued for just an instant as Sasuke tried to regain his composure. It seemed as if it took all of his courage to say those two words. Sakura was left to stand silent, having a feeling that he had to say something and it seemed like quite the endeavour for him just to utter the sentence.

"Will I…?"

"Will you," he began again. _'It's all or nothing.'_ "Go out…with me?"

* * *

**A/N: There you have it, chapter 8! took me a while...but i'm glad i got it up. My sincerest apologies for taking so long! Really sorry! My only reason for not getting right on it is school but i know that's a lame excuse. xD. anyway hope you enjoyed! please review!! and for those who already reviewed before, i greatly appriciate it!**

**- --writingzeaL**


	9. Fear Strikes

_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 9: Fear Strikes**

"I…" Her mouth moved but no sound came from it. No matter how prepared she thought she was, hearing the very question she had longed for left her speechless. She gripped the hem of her jacket tightly as she continued to search for the right words. All she could hear was the light splashing of the beautiful fountain behind her, making her thinking process all the more difficult. _'I had the words in my head but why did they just disappear?' _she thought.

Sasuke stood right in front of her, waiting, seemingly patient in appearance, but way down deep, he was like an erupting volcano of nerves. But some good came out of his little nerve-wracking action. Still standing, Sasuke somewhat felt relieved at the fact that he had finally gotten the guts to ask what had been eating away at him for so long. But in that point in time, the relief was slowly being replaced by the same nervousness that had shown itself just moments ago. It was filling him up like water being poured into a cup. _'Why isn't she saying anything?'_

Just when Sakura had brought her heavy head up to speak, she was rudely interrupted almost instantly, her mouth hung open at the visitor. "Sakura! Hi! What are you doing here? Actually, can I speak to you for a sec? In fact, why don't I just bring you to our _important volleyball meeting in the Science wing!_ Gai is getting _really mad_." Yukiko, the last person she ever wanted to see, showed herself. The words came out a blur to Sakura. She blinked her eyes in uncertainty, for the jumble of words was too complicated to comprehend in her situation.

"Th-there's a volleyball meeting today? I never knew about that—hey!" Sakura was yanked from the wrist harshly, having no choice but to follow, since her high heels didn't really have much grip on the slick school floor, adding difficulty in getting away. She had flailed her arms for balance just before she was dragged up the small steps of stairs, which led over to the Science department of the school.

"Oh, I swear, it's an urgent meeting. You're the captain, you can't miss it." Yukiko said through gritted teeth, loud enough for Sasuke to hear.

"Wh-hey!" Sasuke shouted, wondering why his conversation partner was so easily taken away without question. "We were talking. Can't you wait a couple minutes at least?"

"Sorry Sasuke, but I really need her! I'll give her back to you as soon as I can!" The happiness and sincerity in her voice was as genuine as unicorns. She didn't even turn to smile and wave like she usually did. All she did was continue to cruelly tug on Sakura's already sore arm.

As they slowly began to disappear into the building, Sasuke stood defeated and annoyed. "Shit." He sighed out, running his hand through his hair, clearly irritated. His shoulders sagged as he craned his neck up to the night sky. "Shit." He dejectedly said again as he made his way back into the school.

Just as Sasuke came in, both Naruto and Shikamaru noisily came out of the deafening gymnasium. Their roaring laughter shook the bricks of the building. Naruto had a wide smile glued to his face, but upon laying his eyes on the coal coloured hair, the smile quickly disappeared.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Shikamaru called. "What the hell are you doing out here? The dance is _inside_ the gym." Making his way to his friend, he failed to realize the growing tension in the air between the best friends. His loud footsteps helped keep Sasuke's mind in check, forcing him to keep control of his emotions. Clearly, Naruto was trying to do the same.

"I was just talking to Sakura, but it seems like stupid Gai had a surprise meeting." As Sasuke slid his hands into his pockets, he subconsciously clenched his fists.

"Gai? Are you serious?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Yeah, Yukiko told me. She said it was down in the Science wing. I thought it was kinda far from the gym…" Sasuke trailed off, letting his eyes wander.

"You'd better get your ears checked, Teme." Naruto spoke suddenly. Sasuke shot his head up at the voice he didn't even want to hear. He could see the smug, ignorant look on the boy's face and immediately, his shoulders tensed and his hands practically lost all blood circulation from the strength of his clench.

"What was that, Dobe? Sorry, _obviously_ I couldn't hear you." His patience wasn't as good as he thought it was.

A chuckle escaped Naruto's lips. "Okay, let's play a little bit of question and answer, shall we?" He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. It was visible that he was dragging this out to make as much fun out of it as he could. He was testing Sasuke's will power, but he was well aware of the dangers. Still, he continued. "So, where did you say Sakura was?"

"I already said she went to a meeting."

"Who's at this meeting?"

"Yukiko."

"Wait, what? JustYukiko? Gee, I thought more people would be at a _team_ meeting, don't you think?"

With every word spoken, the air grew thicker and thicker with a disturbing aura. The low growl that could be heard deep within Sasuke's chest was evidence enough that he was just about ready to break Naruto's face in. He knew that if Naruto continued on the way he did, he probably wouldn't be able to hold himself back.

"H-hey, guys," Shikamaru finally began to feel the awkwardness between the two and tried to intervene. He looked between the two, scanning their faces, seeing if he could somehow read their minds and see what this façade was really all about. Not much success came from his attempt. He was ignored easily as the conversation went on.

"Look, I don't need to do this stupid—"

"Didn't you say Gai was at that meeting?"

"Yeah." Sasuke growled. This conversation was really starting to aggravate him. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, considering that Sakura just left when we came in, you just got your _girl_ taken from you and I'm damn sure she's not going to any meeting."

"What did you say?" As much as Sasuke would like to beat the hell out of Naruto, he had to admit, he was utterly confused. "Not going to a meeting?"

"Course she's not. Gai sensei is inside the gym and it didn't look like he was going to go to any meeting either. I'm guessing the little talk he's having with Lee is a lot more important than some volleyball get-together." Naruto's grin grew wider, satisfied by Sasuke's reaction. His body language alone told him that he had gotten him good. "Looks like you've gotta restart with whatever you were talking to Sakura about, 'cause it looks like she's not coming back anytime soon." He mockingly looked at his watch as he spoke.

The memory of Sakura's response to his earlier question came flooding into Sasuke's mind. Just the mere memory of the horrible feeling he felt after she gave no response was enough to make him grind his teeth together in anger.

"So, what are we doing now?" The blonde pointed the question to Shikamaru now, indicating that he was finished talking to Sasuke. He was having fun, it showed. It was a great way to let out some of his steam towards the Uchiha. The thrill was hard to ignore, hard not to get addicted to. "I don't think I'm willing to wait here till tomorrow for Sakura—"

Sasuke snapped and grabbed Naruto's collar. "Don't say another frikken word or I'll beat the hell out of you, I swear."

"Ha! It's only been a couple of hours and you've found a new nose to break." The sudden comment came from someone outside of their little destructive bubble. It was Kiba, passing by, walking towards the gym. He just _had_ to add in a nasty comment. "Figures." Without stopping, he continued on towards the gym not even turning his head.

"Kiba!" Shikamaru yelled angrily to the dog boy.

Sasuke was about to blow. As if the day to get any worse.

"Oh, by the way, tough guy, I saw your girlfriend just down the hall with some other girls. Doesn't look too good that's for sure." With a loud scoff, he disappeared through the steel doors.

"Ugh, wait here guys, I gotta go talk to him." Shikamaru said as he went after Kiba.

Ignoring everything else, Sasuke thought of only one thing. _'Yukiko!'_ All of a sudden, Sasuke pushed Naruto away violently and stormed off towards the Science department, leaving the boy down on the floor, groaning in pain but laughing all the while.

"That was fun. I should do that more often." He stood and brushed himself off. Alone in the hall, he looked around curiously. He looked down towards the dance then down towards where Sasuke had left off too. Pausing, he pondered on what Kiba had said. It didn't sound good, that was for sure. Then it dawned on him, "Oh shit!" He then followed after Sasuke at full speed.

* * *

"Kiba!" yelled Shikamaru. The music was inhumanely loud, making talking seem like yelling from thousands of feet in the air to a person down below. If at all possible, the gym was even more crowded than before. He pushed and shoved, trying to at least get a hand on Kiba's shirt to get his attention, because apparently, no matter how much he yelled his name, he never bothered to turn around. 

With amazing effort, he finally reached Kiba. "Geez, you could've at least looked at me!" Shikamaru shouted, getting a sort of puzzled expression from Kiba. Shaking his head, Shikamaru let it drop and got straight to the point. "You know you really have to learn when to shut your mouth! Look what it got you the first time! If you didn't interrupt those two outside, I bet Naruto would've ended up looking like you!" the boyish grin was the only reply he got. Bothered that his friend wasn't listening to him, he quickly added a harsh grab at his shoulder. "I mean it man. And what were you saying about Sakura? You know he gets ticked off with that stuff."

"Look man, that's just how I talk to Sasuke, okay? He deserves it after breaking my frikken nose." He was about to walk away when Shikamaru whipped him back around to face him once again.

"What happened to Sakura?"

"Dude, I just saw her talking to a group of girls down in the Science wing. Nothing to it." He said it as if it was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. As he turned, he suddenly remembered a very important fact. "Oh, by the way, some girl slapped Sakura. I think it had something to do with Sasuke, _again_. Girls are feisty now a days, huh? Just slapping each other here and there over a guy. Hello, there are more guys in this school, not just Sasuke." He chuckled as if the whole thing was just a joke to him.

"What? Who?"

"Well, I forgot her name. That stupid chick that got me this." He pointed to his swollen bandaged nose.

"Why didn't you do anything to stop them! Sakura could—"

"Okay, seriously, why is it always 'Sakura this' and 'Sakura that'? Frik man, I'm getting tired of that crap."

"Are you frikken kidding me? You just let one girl slap the other and just brushed it off like nothing was happening!? Frikken hell! You're hopeless!"

The vicious grip that Shikamaru had on Kiba shoulders surely made their mark by then, so to finish off their chat, he gave the dog boy one more last push before he turned and left, disappearing into the crowd of teens.

* * *

_'Why did I leave her alone with Yukiko?'_ Sasuke thought as he sped to the Science wing. His heavy breathing indicated that his body couldn't take all of the strain he was putting it through. His heart was beating abnormally fast and his body was becoming weak. "Damn it!" he cringed, slowing down a little bit. 

As he made it to the Science wing, he began to speed walk and scan every room that he passed. If the door was closed, he'd quickly pull it open to search the interior. He went as fast as his body would let him. "Where is she?" he said frantically as panic ensued within his mind. "Why are there so many damn classrooms?" As he made it down the first hall, he turned and started checking the other hall.

"Sasuke!"

"Not now, Naruto!" Sasuke wasn't fit to be dealing with Naruto at the same time. The deep anger that he had still hadn't gone away and he was definitely holding back. But even so, he continually searched the rooms as thoroughly as before.

"No, look, I'm just here to help!" He was pushed aside by Sasuke as he opened the door behind Naruto quickly. Growling, Naruto moved over to the other hall and started opening doors as well. They would have to leave their quarrel for later.

_'Where are you? Where could you…'_ He opened another door but this time, instead of running to the next large wooden board with a doorknob, he stood, staring blankly into the room. His eyes grew wide and his feet glued themselves to the floor.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto stuck his head around the corner only to see a frozen Sasuke statue in front of an open door. "Oi! Teme! What the hell—"

"Shit!" Suddenly, Sasuke ran into the room.

"Wai--hey!" Naruto too ran in after him.

They couldn't have prepared themselves for what they saw next. They were in a chemistry lab with broken glass tubes and scattered chairs and tables all over the place. All of the windows were closed and blocked off with dark coverings too.

"S-Saku-ra…?" For the first time in years, there was a tremble in Sasuke's handsome voice. It wasn't the nervous type of tremble; it was the tremble of fear. Lying motionless on the hard, cold floor was none other than the cherry blossom beauty herself. Her hair was a mess and her body was in disarray, her face facing away from Sasuke. "Sakura…" he said a bit clearer but with great effort. He went over and grabbed her shoulder gently, not wanting to know if she was as fragile as she looked. He shook, but no response. Not being able to control himself, he moved a bit closer and flipped her over so her head was cradled in his arms. He gasped, looking at her very pale complexion. He then saw her very brutally beat up body. She looked unbelievably dreadful.

"Sasuke we have to call an ambulance or something! We can't waste anymore time!" Naruto was finally able to speak. At first when he entered, he couldn't see Sakura but immediately, he could feel his knees buckle at the fear of what he might see. Not only was he concerned for Sakura's safety, but he also started to feel the guilt creep into him. What he had said earlier had started to haunt him endlessly. And due to that guilt, he pulled out his cellphone and flipped it open, ready to dial for an ambulance.

"No! We can't wait that long! We've gotta get her to a hospital now!" Sasuke motioned for his arms to lift Sakura but suddenly, his chest began to ache painfully. He groaned, hurting, wincing as he tried to carry the badly injured girl. He already had her well off the floor when Naruto stepped in, seeing how agonizing the task was for his friend.

"Sasuke, don't!" Naruto was quickly by his side with a hand on his shoulder. "You're going to hurt yourself! Put her down." Much to his dismay, he put the girl back down as gently as he could. As soon as she was safe, he collapsed onto his rear, having only his arms for support. He panted, his chest rising and falling violently. "Look, I'll carry her to your car. I think it would be better if you were conscious rather than...well…" He took a quick glance at Sakura and right away, his face hardened with worry. "I think it would be best if you were driving."

Sasuke looked long and hard at Naruto and then down to Sakura. He only wanted to help but unfortunately, he knew that in truth, he was too weak to do anything. Giving up, he sadly nodded for Naruto to pick her up as he slowly got up and brushed off the tiny pieces of glass that clung to his clothes. He waited for Naruto, who firmly held onto Sakura, making sure she wouldn't fall.

"I swear, if you drop her…" Sasuke let the words hang in the air and let Naruto use his imagination. With serious faces and a nod from each, they both began to make their way out.

* * *

Naruto held two cups of coffee in his hands as he looked at his friend from afar. The emergency room light was on, blazing down at a worried Sasuke, whom sat just outside of the said room in one of the waiting chairs. It's already been about an hour or two and still they wouldn't turn that light off. He could tell that Sasuke was getting quite anxious. Slowly, he walked towards one of the empty chairs, before taking his seat, he handed Sasuke his drink, disturbing him from his daze. 

"Oh, thanks." The quiet Uchiha stared at the liquid in the cup that steamed up into his cold face.

"I tried calling Sakura's mom but she wasn't there so I just left a message." Naruto said weakly.

"Thanks." He didn't even look up.

"I…" Naruto didn't know how to express his apology, seeing as the boy wasn't even listening anyway. "I just wanted to…well see I…" It was difficult, he had to admit. "…Sorry…for what I said earlier." Sasuke looked over to him with the same blank stare he had since they came into the hospital. "I guess I just didn't think about what would happen if I said that stuff." He confessed. "I really didn't mean anything, really." He blurted after seeing Sasuke sigh and look away. "Sorry…"

"It's okay, man." The corners of his mouth went up slightly. They sat in silence for the next half an hour or so, waiting for that accursed light to turn off and for the doctor to come out and say that Sakura was alright.

The time crept by slowly. People walked by, only to be seen as a blur to the boys. Sasuke's coffee had already gone cold and it wasn't even half empty yet.

All of sudden, there was a loud click and the light faded away. Sasuke shot out of his chair just as the doctor came out. "Doctor! How is she?" he questioned nervously. "Is she going to be okay?" The look on the doctor's face was hard to read.

"Don't worry. She's going to be just fine. She's just got a few cuts and bruises here and there but other than that, her condition is stable. We're moving her over to the recovery room. You can see her there, but give her sometime. She'll wake up sooner or later. Let her rest." With that, the doctor walked off into his respective office to make his charts and reports.

About an hour later, they entered her quiet room. The lights were dim and the constant beeping of the monitor filled the room. Through the window, they could see the city lights and the cars that zoomed by the street three storeys down. There were two navy blue chairs and a small round table in the corner, probably for people such as Sasuke and Naruto to sit in while visiting. But what their attention was really on was Sakura. There was a tube stuck in her arm and taped into place while bandages were placed on some of her cuts, the majority being left uncovered. The bruises on her face and arms were already turning dark purple as well.

"Wow, she looks terrible." Naruto started, walking up to the side of her bed. Sasuke walked over to the other side of the bed and looked down as well.

"Yeah, but at least she's okay." By late reaction perhaps, Sasuke let out a deep awaiting sigh.

"She gave us quite a scare, eh?" Naruto said.

"That's definitely an understatement." answered the other.

"Oh, right!" the blonde said a bit too loudly. Immediately, he was hushed.

"You're going to wake up the whole hospital!" he hissed.

"Sorry." He said in more of a whisper. "I meant to say that we should maybe tell Ino about this. After all, she is her best friend." He concluded. Sasuke thought on it for a moment, considering some…minor mishaps that might happen to the harbinger of bad news.

"You know what?" He was soon by Naruto's side, grabbing his shoulders and leading him outside of the room, doing so with a smile that hid the glee of knowing that he wasn't going to make the call. "That's a great idea. Tell me when you get out of your own hospital bed, 'kay bud?" With a great pat on the back, Sasuke closed the door of Sakura's room, leaving Naruto outside baffled.

Back inside, Sasuke grabbed a chair and sat by Sakura. The monitor's monotonous beeping was part of what kept him awake and thinking; the other being Sakura and her feeble self. With that concerned and caring onyx gaze, he slipped one of Sakura's delicate hands into his own and he held it there, wavering only a little bit. He realized that she could disappear just as easily as snow under the glare of the sun right then and there. What would he do? What _could_ he do…

Suddenly, as if his heart would leap out of his chest, Sasuke felt an abrupt stir. He was taken out of his thoughts at once, looking eagerly at Sakura. His hand, which still held hers, fell still. He felt her own give a small squeeze before her glorious emerald eyes opened, but only at the slightest. Even so, he was overjoyed to find that she was alive and well.

"Sakura?" he whispered.

"Mmm…" she groaned as her eyes blinked tightly shut again like she was in pain.

"Wha—hey, take it easy." He told her as he stood up and leaned in closer. "It's just me, Sasuke. Don't make any sudden moves. The doctor says you might be a bit weird in the next few days, what with all the medications and stuff I guess."

"Ugh, my head feels like it's going to split open." She spoke hoarsely. Although the words were no more than light murmurs, a smile graced his face.

"Naw, your head's way too hard to smash open." He reassured her, showing off his happy smile. "Doctors says rest. Don't do anything drastic or else I might be forced to sit right here and make sure you behave. I don't think it's a bad idea at all actually, school sucks anyway."

Her eyelids blinked lazily as their eyes met. "Get some sleep." He lulled as he gave her a light kiss on the forehead, making sure he didn't hit any bruises or cuts by accident. Slowly but surely, her eyes began to droop to a close as her breathing became even. But this time, her mouth curved slightly upward and her hand felt warmer than ever.

Because of the whole incident, he completely forgot about the time. It was definitely later than he thought it was. Soon, sleep began to sneakily crawl into his mind as well. Unable to fight the inevitable, his head gradually began to sink on to the bright white bed sheets.

With a soft click, the door opened, revealing a defeated Uzumaki. "Oi, Sas—" his speedy hand quickly covered his own mouth. When he entered, he saw Sasuke sitting right beside Sakura's bed with his head lying on one of his arms, which was placed on the foot of the bed. All the while, his other hand grasped hers as they both drifted silently into slumber. He just came to relay to him that Ino didn't pick up either and he just left a voice mail. Guess he was a bit too late.

"Ah well, I'll just tell the nurse that he'll probably be staying." He tiptoed his way back to the door. Before exiting, he let out one last whisper into the air. "Goodnight, sweet dreams."

* * *

**A/N: I know! you all have the right to just scream at me right now. that was the worst update time in history. ugh i feel bad...that wasn't even as long as i expected it to be either! ugh. bangsheadondesk Some good reviews might bring up my spirits, i guess --".**

**- --writingzeaL**


	10. Complicated

**A/N: you don't know how depressed i feel for not updating for so long... x(**

_**

* * *

.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 10: Complicated  
**

"What's going on?" Sakura asked into the blackness of her surroundings. Nothing but emptiness could be seen for miles on end. She let her arms stretch, and to her surprise, she felt the cold surfaces of tables and chairs. She blinked a few times and as if by magic, a room appeared before her. In it were tables with test tubes and beakers. Some had even a few Bunsen burners and one or two dirty test tube racks that were most likely left behind by lazy students.

"This looks like…the science room." But there was none but her, she noticed. She was alone, or so she thought.

Suddenly, she heard a noise behind her and immediately, she whipped around with a gasp only to see more tables and chairs. She searched with her eyes, scanning, half hoping to find out what made the noise and half hoping it was all her imagination. Again, more noises could be heard, as if the tables were being moved and the chairs were being pushed aside ruthlessly. A nervous sweat began to form on Sakura's forehead. Her heart rate had sped up to twice its natural speed.

Then there was a scream.

Sakura jumped and let out a scream of her own as she spun, finding Yukiko being roughly pulled towards the door by a very large man. She struggled hard but the man's grip seemed inescapable.

"Yukiko!" The urge to throw something came to Sakura but as she searched for one of the beakers she had seen earlier, the tables in the room unexpectedly became bare topped. Not a single piece of science equipment could be seen. "Wha..?"

Another loud scream came from Yukiko, who now seemed almost three times farther away than she was a few seconds ago. "Crap! Yukiko, hold on!" With quick manoeuvring and agile speed, Sakura bolted for the door around each chair and table.

Sakura was sprinting as hard as she could, her muscles straining under the stress she was putting them under, and yet she didn't seem to be getting any closer. In fact, the harder she ran, the farther Yukiko was getting.

"No!" Another scream came and hit Sakura's ears like a sludge hammer on a car hood, but this time, it was followed by a low growling chuckle. The laugh was so sinister and malicious that Sakura could feel a small shiver crawl its way from the very tips of her fingers and toes all the way to her already pale face.

Two sharp eyes shot from over the broad shoulders directly to her. She could feel her breath catch in her throat, instantly petrified with a mere look. Before he turned around for the last time, she caught a glimpse of an evil grin. With that, the screaming stopped and they were gone, fading into the surroundings.

"Wait! Stop!" Just realizing that she had stopped running, she put her legs to work yet again, but after her first step, she felt the ground underneath her collapse and she was pulled into an abyss of darkness. She gave a shout as the powerlessness overthrew her mind and body.

* * *

"Sakura!" She continued to yell and Sasuke felt completely helpless. She was shaking her head from side to side and she was squirming uncontrollably. It was only a few seconds ago that he was fast asleep when he felt her hand give a quick, tight squeeze on his. She then began to cry out and vigorously move about. He shot up out of his chair and stood there, not knowing what to do.

"Hey! Sakura!" He hovered over her, taking his hands and gripping them onto her arms. "Sakura, wake up! You're having a nightmare!" He gave enough of a shake as to not cause her any harm, but enough to take some effect.

She abruptly shot up into a sitting position, just missing a head to head collision with Sasuke by a hair. She had her head in her hands as she panted; eyes shut tight, murmuring incoherent things that Sasuke couldn't hear. He quickly sat on the bed beside her with his hands comfortingly rubbing up and down her arms

"Shh. It's okay. I'm right here." His voice was soft and gentle. "Are you okay?"

She brought her heavy head up and turned to her side to look up at two onyx eyes. Her eyes though, he saw, were clearly filled with unshed tears. Torn inside, he subconsciously pulled her slowly into an embrace. As he wrapped his arms around her, he could feel her do the same as she rested her head on the crook of his neck. Shivers accompanied the shaky intakes of breaths. He felt every tremor as he held her tighter.

Tears flowed freely down her face. It was as if, at that moment, all of the fear, anger, helplessness and sorrow came crashing down on her and she couldn't stop them from spilling from her eyes. Every breath caused even more tears to stream down her cheeks.

They sat there for a long time. However, seconds, minutes, not even the hands of a clock could trace the amount of time Sasuke thought had passed, for he didn't care whether he sat there with her for days or even weeks. All he knew was that she needed him there, so there was where he would stay.

A moment later, the crying slowly came to a halt. All that were left were a few hiccups and puffy red eyes. Sakura gradually broke away from Sasuke.

"I-I'm s-sorry." She said between hiccups. Her nose evidently plugged from the crying.

"What are you sorry for?" Sasuke said lightly. He looked down at his soaked shirt. "You mean this?" Chuckling, he pulled some of the wet material away from his body, but the shirt decided that it wanted to suction itself onto his skin. "It's not mine anyway. Sorry Naruto, it was for a good cause." He laughed quietly.

She couldn't help but show a small smile and give a little giggle as she wiped her face with her hands.

"So you're alright? What happened? You must've been having a crazy nightmare." Her small cheerful instant was over as her face turned grim. She stared down at her hands. It was silent for a moment and he felt as if he shouldn't have said anything. With his eyebrows bent with concern he shifted awkwardly.

"You don't have to say an—"

"He took her." she said in the tiniest of voices.

"Huh? Who what?" he said moving in closer to hear.

"He took her!" she said with a little more strength behind her voice.

"He took who? Who's he?"

"I couldn't do anything! I tried to push him off but—" She began to panic and ramble on, speaking faster and faster but she couldn't yell, the strength in her body only left enough power to speak.

"Whoa, slow down." He said, placing his hands soothingly over her strained, nervous ones. "Start over. Who was taken? And who took her?"

Taking in a deep breath, Sakura said, "Yukiko."

"What?"

"I-I don't know who it was. I just remember his eyes," her voice toned down and trailed off.

"Is that what happened in the science room? You were having a dream of what happened yesterday? Yukiko was kidnapped?"

She nodded her head. "I felt so helpless. The other girls weren't there. It was only me and Yukiko. I didn't know what to do! He was too strong for me." Her voice cracked, "I tried calling using my phone but he knocked it out of my hands and I couldn't find it in the room."

He kept comforting her, knowing it was a lot to take in. In fact, he could hardly believe it himself. Was it all in his imagination? Was he still asleep? It took quite the effort to keep his head straight.

"So the other girls weren't there? Where were they?" he asked slowly, absorbing as much as he could.

"Yukiko told them to stay out of it. I don't know where they went but I'm not sure if they know anything about it either. All I know is that for whatever reason, he came to take Yukiko. He was hell bent on getting her out of there."

"How about the teachers? They're supposed to be supervising." He questioned.

"I don't think they had any idea it would happen at a school dance." She answered. She could tell he was very troubled by it. Not knowing why, she looked back at her hands feeling a little bit hurt. Was he confused and angry because it was her that got hurt or was it because Yukiko got kidnapped. Was she going crazy? Jealousy maybe? She shook her head thinking it was ridiculous. Why was she worrying about something like that?

Still the ache would not leave. Although small and dull, she feared it would grow if she lingered on the topic any longer.

Looking around, trying to shake off the feeling, she realized it was still pretty dark outside the large hospital window. The stars were still out and the moon shone brightly with all its magnificence.

"What time is it?" She asked quickly.

"Uh, it's.." He knew he didn't have his watch on his wrist at the moment so he probed around from his cell phone. He searched his pant pockets, looked around the side tables and eventually was force to stand up to search elsewhere. "I'll tell you when I find my phone. Just a sec," Sakura decided to help out, considering there wasn't much else to do in a hospital bed.

She grabbed her pillow and puffed it out a little bit, hoping something would fall out while her foot shifted the bed sheets. Eventually, she kicked something small and hard.

Groping on the surface of the sheets, she finally found it. To tell Sasuke was probably the right idea but she saw the screen blink. She looked at it, knowing it was wrong to snoop in other peoples stuff when not asked, but curiosity took a hold of her. She quickly grabbed the cellphone and checked the screen. One message, it said.

"This is so wrong." Sakura whispered to herself, but she couldn't take her eyes off the screen. "It's probably just Naruto. It can't be too bad. One peek won't hurt." However, buried in the back of her mind were the theories of Sasuke and his mysterious problem. And with a press of a button, the message opened. Reluctantly but at the same time curiously, she read on.

_Fr: Dr. Shizune_

_Mr. Uchiha, I would like to tell you that you have one of your check-ups later today at around 1. I took the liberty of retaining your schedule so that we won't be behind on stats. We have some important things to discuss before we go further with your medications. I will be in the hospital all day so please stop by when you can so—_

"Did you find it?" His voice came from by the door. Before he revealed himself around the corner, Sakura quickly answered.

"Yeah, I found it. I think you have a message, it was blinking. Here." Handing it over with the screen open to the inbox, she started to fix up her pillow and sheets. But as she did so, she peeked over at Sasuke. His eyes scanned the screen quickly, realization sparking in them only for an instant as he put his phone away. "Anything important?"

"No, not really." He shook his head and smiled. "It just means that I can stay here longer without making up excuses. At least now, my brother will be off my back for today." Sakura took in the smile he gave and felt her face grow hot. The bed creaked as she adjusted her seating so that her back was leaning on the headboard. She knew she could've just fixed the bed with a button, she'd seen it done before, but she had to do something to calm her temperature.

Sitting back down at the edge of the bed, Sasuke took one of her delicate hands and let it lay in his, looking at it. He played with a few fingers and traced patterns on the back of her hand, feeling oddly relaxed. Sakura, on the other hand, sat there shocked. The situation really didn't help the red from leaving her face, but she liked the feeling nonetheless.

"You never answered my question today." He began. Feeling braver than he did earlier that day, he smiled as he looked up at her. "You don't have to answer, considering the train of events." He said calmly, still continuing what he was doing.

Sakura looked at him, seeing how tranquil he seemed and it felt so nice, better than nice. Giggling, her eyes softened. "I have an answer." She teased. "But, I don't know if I should say what I'm thinking or let you think about it first."

"Why the torture? Can't you just put me out of my misery now?" he asked, leaning over to the side, on top of her legs. He rested on his right elbow so that he wouldn't crush her knees. His right side rested on the edge of the bed as well. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to say that. You owe me an answer, right here, right now." He said, keeping her hand with him, grinning.

"Was it really that bad? I think you're over exaggerating." She said, not really minding all of the attention.

"Why wouldn't I be nervous?" he asked.

"It's me, why get nervous over me?" she answered, truly believing what she said. Why get nervous over her? What was there to get nervous about?

"You really think I should list all the reasons why? Or should I let you think about it first?" he chuckled.

Obviously flattered, her face turned pink. "Can I ask one question?"

Sasuke, looked up at her voice and nodded. "'Course."

For a moment, Sakura didn't say anything. She leaned forward and took his hand this time, exploring it, finding the action strangely soothing. "Why did you stay?" Never lifting her head, she stared down at their hands.

Again, there was silence.

Looking up to see what was wrong, she met an onyx gaze that she simply couldn't look away from.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Just then, one of the nurses opened the door. "Oh good, you're awake." The sudden intrusion broke the spell as they both sat up and let go of each other's hands.

The nurse gave a warm smile and walked over to Sakura's side. "Well, since you look fine, I'll use this time to do a thorough check-up. Sorry, dear," she said to Sasuke, "but I'm afraid you'll have to wait outside." Apologetically, the nurse nodded, implying that she wouldn't take long.

"No problem." He got up and looked from the nurse to Sakura. "In fact, I've got something to do anyway. I'll be back in a bit." He bid both as he made his way out the door. Sakura looked long after him, having a very good guess at what he was going to do.

"He's a cutie." Said the nurse just moments after Sasuke left. "Boyfriend?"

"Uh, n-no, he's not." Sakura gave a nervous chuckle as the nurse took that time to check the cuts and bruises on her back.

"Really, huh. Turn towards me please, honey. There you go." She then checked on Sakura's stomach and arms. "So that means the bruises weren't from him?" She gave Sakura this look that said 'don't-try-lying-I'll-know' look. She checked Sakura's face in the process as well, taking a look at some of the deeper cuts.

"W-what? No, h-he didn't do this, honest." Sakura seemed kind of taken aback. Sakura could never picture Sasuke doing such a thing, to her anyway. She gave another awkward chuckle but not for the same reasons as before.

The nurse wrapped up what she was doing, taking down notes on her charts and checking the ivy bag for changing. "Good, because he may be cute but if he was that kind of guy, I wouldn't waste my time, hon." She laughed slightly. "Anyway, if you need me just call." She turned and headed for the door.

"Wait," Sakura said, catching the nurse's attention.

"Yes, dear? Anything you need?" She saw that Sakura took her time in answering, seeming to think over her words.

"Um, actually there is something I need.."

* * *

The tip taps of Sasuke's light feet echoed throughout the stairwell as he made his way down three levels. He pulled out his phone to check the time. _'That message from Dr. Shizune was from yesterday night. It's four in the morning. I wonder if she's still here?'_

Opening one of the steel stairwell doors, he made his way down the hall passed numerous counters and even more nurses whom all greeting him. He simply nodded now and again as he continued on. Seeing the office light still on, and two shadows moving about behind the frosted window, he assumed she actually was there. Sticking to his guess, he gave a light knock on the door.

It opened revealing the doctor that he was expecting. "Ah, Sasuke. You come at an odd hour." Said Dr. Shizune as she pulled her sleeve up to look at her watch. "Well, better now than never, right? Come in, Come in. I was just talking to one of the cardiovascular specialists to see what else we can do to improve your treatments. In fact, it's better that you're here."

"Great, sure." Sasuke sighed but held his head high as he walked in.

* * *

Sakura sat with her back up against her inclined bed as she stared at the ceiling. Her hands fidgeted with the sheet as she sorted through her thoughts. It wasn't as if she had much else to do; Sasuke was definitely taking his time. The moon was disappearing and she could already see the bright lining on the horizon. The stars began to fade while the undersides of big fluffy clouds began to show.

_'He came, he stayed...'_ she thought, smiling a little. _'But what am I doing? Was it right to ask the nurse?' _Shaking her head, her mind blanked for a moment as she continued to fidget and stare at the barren ceiling. She smiled once more when her thoughts began to run again.

'_The question...'_ Blushing slightly at the memory, _'It's only been hours. How come it seemed so long ago?' _She sat forward, looking out the window. The sun was beautiful.

Then there was a knock.

"Yeah?" Sakura's head shot up when she heard the rapping at the door. Once again, the nurse entered but with no clipboard, just a message.

"Downstairs, Dr. Shizune's office. That's where he was headed to." The room fell silent for a moment. Sakura looked at the nurse for a long time. The nurse returned the look but with a more concerned look, if nothing else.

"Thank you. Oh and you think you could do one more thing?"

* * *

"It seems as though the treatments have been doing you well. I trust it you've been taking the medications that Dr. Shizune has been giving you?"

"Yes, of course." Sasuke was sitting in one of the comfy chairs in the office, sitting across an old man, around his late sixties. He never bothered to remember the man's name. It was already driving him insane how he had to stay there for so long. All the questions were the same to him and all they needed was a yes or no answer.

"Good, good. The scans seem normal enough, although you are aware of how serious you're condition is already, I assume." Over the top of his glasses, the doctor looked at Sasuke meaningfully. "All Dr. Shizune and this hospital have been able to do is prolong you're days. Have you tried looking for a donor?"

Sasuke sat still. He knew his condition was very, very bad but he didn't need someone to remind him of his problem. "We've tried, but there hasn't been a match yet."

"Well, good. At least you've started looking. Better to start now then never. Anyway," he stood slowly, bones cracking and popping in the process. He fixed his white coat and limped carefully towards the door. "Dr. Shizune, may I have a word for a moment outside. I won't keep her for long, Sasuke." Sighing impatiently, Sasuke sat to wait.

Outside, Dr. Shizune had a questioning look. "So, is there anything we can do to improve his condition? I am very well aware of the seriousness of his illness but I am at a loss. Nothing else we've done has helped, much to our dismay."

"To be honest," the other doctor sighed and took off his glasses, cleaning them with the edge of his jacket. "He seems to be healthy enough, and the medications have been doing well, but," looking down at his eye ware, checking for smudges of scratches, "He's looking better than what his scans say. It's quite amazing finding him in such good conditions at his current state."

"So you mean…"

"I'm afraid his only chance is to find a donor. I'm actually surprised his heart hasn't failed him yet. He's a fighter, alright." Setting the glasses back on, he looked at Dr. Shizune again. "He's deteriorating quickly and soon, he will show signs of weakness and fatigue far worse than before. Also, his blood type is rare you said," confirmed the doctor, earning a nod from Dr. Shizune. "Well, let's pray it isn't too rare, for the boy's sake."

"Thank you, doctor, for all of your help. I appreciate it and I'm sure the boy does too, it's just not as easy to see." She smiled as the doctor left down the hall.

Dr. Shizune sighed. "What am I going to do with you, Sasuke?" Defeated, she turned the knob but put on a masked smile before entering. "Sasuke!" and she disappeared through the door.

Just then, right when she closed the door behind her, Sakura emerged from around a corner. She was walking with the ivy stand and the nurse who was supporting her as she walked. Her body was too weak to sustain her body weight as she walked. It was the medicine's effect.

"Where was it did you say?" questioned Sakura as she searched the hall for Dr. Shizune. She had seen her once or twice in her unit upstairs just checking up on patients. She wasn't one of them but her frequent visits in that area was enough for Sakura to remember her face.

"It's that door right there with the frosted window." The nurse looked at Sakura awkwardly. "I really think you should be in bed, dear. I can't believe you made me take you down hear. Please, let's just go. She looks busy and I don't think we should disturb her." The nurse continued to urge Sakura to go back upstairs.

_'Should I go up to the door? Is he even still in there? Why is it taking him so long? Could it be something to do with the paper's I saw?'_ She thought.

"Sakura, let's go, dear. I'm not going to do this any longer. You need to be in bed."

"No, wait. I didn't even do anything yet. We came down here for nothing?" But in truth, she could feel her knees grow weak and that buckling sensation began. She grasped her stand to keep from falling. "Damn, seriously." She gave in and held onto the nurse as they entered the elevator once more.

* * *

**A/N: So there it is. The chapter that took me A FRIKKEN LONG TIME *shootself* i feel realllyy realllyy badd. i hope i can keep going. i wanna finish this xD i think it's a good story, don't you?**

**- --writingzeaL  
**


	11. Taking the Chance

_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 11: Taking the Chance**

Sakura had only stayed for a couple of hours the next day, of course with Sasuke never leaving her side. They hadn't talked much about the topic they had before for Sasuke had come up and found Sakura fast asleep once more.

Ino finally got the message that Naruto had sent and stormed into the hospital, ploughing through people like a bull seeing red. Poor Shikamaru was dragged along right behind her. It was at least good to see that her friend was concerned enough to rush and see her. They had come right when Sakura woke up, luckily, and didn't disturb any needed rest. Ino was at the brink of tears while talking and holding tightly onto her best friend's hand. And just as Sasuke had guessed, she was ready to rip Naruto's head off for leaving the message. Boy, was he glad he didn't call her.

Sakura's mom had come in soon after, almost with the same urgency. It was hard to explain the worry of a mother but nevertheless, she shed a few tears as well. However, she looked hard at Sasuke before Sakura had even started explaining her story. Only by telling her mother what happened had Sakura realized that she'd just saved his life.

Of course Sasuke had to take in a deep breath after that encounter. He thought he was about to be slaughtered. He took note never to get on her bad side. The look she gave was enough to scare him for a while.

And of course, Sakura received cards and a few flowers from the principal and volleyball team, whom found out just that morning from Naruto when he went to school. She knew they couldn't visit but she was happy that they went through the trouble.

Late in the afternoon, Sakura's doctor and nurse came and officially announced that she could leave. Oh, how happy she was to finally leave and go home.

Now, Sakura sat Indian style comfortably on her couch watching a movie she just picked off the shelf. It was early in the morning and she was wrapped in a snug blanket, drinking freshly made tea.

Her mother stayed at home and took a personal leave off work just to make sure Sakura was okay. Like all hard working mothers, she had been up since the crack of dawn with house chores and breakfast preparations. At the moment she was already outside hanging out her first batch of laundry.

"Mom! Can I eat this?" Sakura sauntered over to their kitchen, now able to fully walk on her own, and showed her mom the eggs and soup through the window. Getting a clear nod, Sakura sat and dug in. The large navy blue sweatshirt she wore along with the gray sweats that wrapped around her feet kept her warm from the light breeze coming in through the screen door. Her hair was tied over on one side, letting the hair tie rest on her shoulder.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Sakura's head shot up as she looked at the time. "It's too early to have visitors. Mom, anyone you know?" she asked through the screen door.

"I don't know. Here I'll get it."

"No, ma, I got it, don't worry." Sakura put her spoon back in her soup and got off her chair, hearing another ring of the doorbell as she unlocked the door.

* * *

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled from his room. He had a pair of blue jeans on and socks but he couldn't find the shirt he was looking for. "Itachi, where's that grey shirt I bought a few weeks back? It's a long sleeve." He yelled again. His brother was downstairs yelling back his answer.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Geez, you might've used it already! You've got a billion gray shirts in the laundry."

Still ruffling through his closet, he answered. "I only have three! Frik, never mind!" He snatched a white short sleeve and pulled it on.

"Why are you in a rush? It's early, what are you planning to do?" came Itachi's voice from the kitchen. The sizzling of oil could be heard crackling along with it.

"I'm heading out." He grabbed his black cuff watch and swiftly buckled it in.

"Out to where?"

"Sakura's!" Before leaving his room, he grabbed his black and white trucker hat. Setting it on backwards, he checked his mirror before closing the door and speeding to the kitchen.

Itachi never gave an answer, but continued to cook as Sasuke entered the kitchen and slid into his chair already buttering a piece of toast. Right when Itachi turned around and set the rest of breakfast down in a plate did he decide to speak.

"Sasuke, are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into? Doing this won't make it any better for either of you." He too took his seat across from his little brother.

"You sound just like Naruto." Sasuke snickered as he took another bite of his breakfast.

"Well, Naruto's being smart. Dr. Shizune called me this morning and told me everything. You're getting worse, why hurt her too?"

"Look, wasn't it you who said to live normally? What, is this not normal? Any guy my age would look for a girlfriend. It just so happens that I really like her."

"I know, Sasuke but is it reasonable? You've gotta think about what's happening now. It's not like last year when you could still last a week without medications. Now you're taking them everyday." Concern was evident in the calm voice of his brother, although his face didn't show it.

"If it's about the medications, screw it. So what if I have to take more than before? It just means that I'll be less likely to get an attack during the day." Sasuke was cleaning his plate fast.

"Sasuke…"

"I don't plan on dying just yet, okay? We're going to find a donor, I'm gonna get better, everyone's happy." Sasuke got up and took his plate to the sink.

"How are you so sure we'll find one?"

"Come on, how many people are there in the world? One of them is bound to have the same blood type, even if mine is some rare thing. I'll take my chances with the billions of people." Turning off the faucet, he quickly dried his hands with one of the hand towels hanging off the stove handle. "Besides, I feel great. I feel like I could jump off a building, but I won't." he smiled.

"Will you at least tell her, and let her decide for herself?" Itachi asked before Sasuke had the chance to get his shoes on.

"I was planning to eventually but…"

"You have to, Sasuke. If she really cares for you, she'll understand."

"I know but it's a lot harder than it looks to go out saying I have a heart disease and I'm likely to die. Not exactly a good topic to talk about with the girl you like." Sasuke slipped his shoes on easily and grabbed his car keys.

"Tell her. She should know."

All Sasuke could do was look at his brother and nod. With that, he closed the door behind him, leaving his brother to sigh and walk back to the kitchen. He was shaking his head when the phone rang.

"Hello, Uchiha residence." he said, picking up the phone off the kitchen wall.

"Itachi." Came a dark, low rumbling voice. "It's been a while."

Itachi's eyes grew wide, immediately recognizing the tone of the voice. _'Years…it's been years since then…why now?'_

"Still, not one for words I see, old friend." A shady chuckle echoed through Itachi's ears. "I know it's kind of sudden, but I thought the occasion called for a special phone call."

"Kisame, I am not involved anymore, you know that."

"I know, I know. You said that way to many times before. I always thought you could never _really_ leave the group. It seems so hard."

"Well I did." Itachi said with an authoritative voice. It seemed like he wanted to convince more himself than his unexpected caller.

"Okay, alright. It's just I'm so excited! Think about it. Remember that stupid old man that scammed us all those years ago? That weird one with the bald spot? Yeah well we have his daughter! Isn't that insane? I don't know what her name is. Yumito? Yuhimo? Something along those lines…" the speaker grumbled, trying hard to remember the name.

"Yukiko!?" said Itachi with utter disbelief. _'That was the name of the girl Sasuke was telling me about!'_ he reflected.

"Yeah! Yeah, that's the one. She's kind of a hand full though, you know? I got smacked in the face a couple a times. Crazy little…"

"Kisame…what have you…"

"She's a feisty one but mess around with her a little and she shuts up." He chuckled, enjoying himself. "Anyway, just wanted to let you know, because you know, this is an opportunity of a lifetime to get back at that old bastard. He'll pay for screwing up that deal we had. And that was a big one." On the other side of the phone, Itachi could hear a muffled cry. "Eh, pipe down! Shut up, will ya? You've been screaming and squirming all day! Making my head hurt, you know! Ow, shit!" Itachi then heard a loud smack and the scream died down to a sob. "Damn girl cut my leg with her frikken heels."

Itachi was horrified. How could this be happening now? And why this girl? _'Shit, if Sasuke hears about this, I'm screwed to hell.'_ He thought.

"So, anyways Itachi, if you ever want to get in on the fun, you know how to contact me, alright? Trust me, you wouldn't want to miss it for the world!" With that, the line went blank and Itachi heavily dropped the phone in its place.

_'Shit, shit, shit!'_ he fisted the counter so hard his hand went numb. _'No matter what I do, no matter how long its been, they still won't leave me the frik alone! Shit, what should I do? Damnit!'_ he screamed in his head.

"Damnit!" yelled the frustrated Uchiha as he kicked his wall, thankfully leaving it unmarked.

* * *

"Naruto?" Sakura said with some surprise as she opened her front door, revealing a beautiful sunny day and an oddly nervous looking young man. He was practically shaking on the spot. As he scratched his cheek shyly, she could see the small tremble in the gesture. "What brings you here?"

She was kind of nervous herself, considering the vibe she got from him in the past wasn't exactly friendly. Having him stand right in front of her on her door step was the last thing she thought was going to happen.

"I just, uh," he shuffled his feet. "You think w-we could talk?" he quirked. "I promise it won't take long."

"Um, sure, yeah, come on in." she opened the door wider for him to enter. _'Now this is awkward.'_ She thought. Naruto then made his way to the living room.

Closing the door, Sakura sped over to the couch and yanked her blanket out of the way. She then placed it on an empty chair and sat back on the couch, Naruto beside her with a large gap between them.

"What did you want to talk about?" she said, her finger tips playing with the edge of her sweater sleeve. He too didn't dare look at her. He hadn't exactly been the most hospitable person in the world.

"I know I've kinda been a jerk lately," he alleged after a while. "Like the looks and stuff and all the crap I've been saying," he was speeding up. "But you probably don't know about that. I really mean to take those things back really. I'm just not good at this sort of thing and Sasuke—" he ran out of breath.

"Naruto. Naruto!" she practically had to yell his name for him to notice. "Take a deep breath. I couldn't quite get anything you just said."

"I told you I wasn't good at this." He whispered under his breath enough for her to hear, clearly embarrassed.

"You did?"

"Yeah." They laughed lightly. The tension lifted a little but the majority was still there. "Look," he said, turning his head to look at her. "I really, really am sorry." The sincerity was definitely there. "I'm a nice guy really." He grinned. "It's just Sasuke's like a brother to me and it's the first time he ever acted like this. I guess I was just caught off guard." He let his head hang back down, facing away from her.

"You and me both." She smiled. "You don't have to be sorry for anything,"

"No, I do, I really do need to. I've been a really bad friend and I've treated you worse. I shouldn't have done that."

"And you come to me? Did you tell Sasuke yet?" It really did kind of seem weird that he would apologize to her before his best friend.

"Naw. We've gotten into way worse fights before and somehow," he scoffed unbelievingly, "he always ends up forgiving me, no matter how stupid I was, no matter how much of an idiot I was, he always forgave me. And I'd had my fair share of stupid things." He pointed to himself with a knowing look.

She smiled and giggled lightly. _'Wow. Putting up with Naruto for so long. It really amazes me, these two.'_

"I was just worried for Sasuke. He has no idea I'm here and that I'm doing this."

"Sakura! Oh," Sakura's mom came through the sliding door from the backyard and noticed that they had a visitor. "Why, hello. I didn't know we had a guest."

Naruto stood abruptly. "Uh, hello. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, a friend of Sasuke's" Sakura too stood, brushing one of her bangs out of the way.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto. Would you like something to drink? To eat? I can whip something up really quick if you'd like." Smiling, she was about to enter the kitchen when Naruto shook his head.

"No, it's alright. Thank you. I was just about to go. Wouldn't want to bother you guys this early." He then walked around the couch and motioned for the door. "Thanks for letting me stay."

"No problem, dear. I hope to see you again, sometime."

"Of course ma'am." Naruto agreed.

With that, she disappeared back into the kitchen but quickly went back outside. Her laundry wasn't finished as Sakura could tell and there were still lots to hang up. In fact, there were two baskets full still there. Her mother wouldn't her help, no matter what she said.

"Told you it was going to be short." He said after securing his shoes.

"Mm." Sakura stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

"All I wanted to say was sorry," he said shyly, "and to say that you should go easy on Sasuke."

"What do you mean?" she questioned, clearly confused.

"You'll find out, sooner or later but please keep an open mind. At least absorb it enough before you decide anything or think anything unnecessary." His face was pleading. Although puzzled, she gave one slow nod, not sure of what she was agreeing to.

"Great!" the agreement brought a bright light to his face. "Thanks." He then turned the knob and walked towards his car. Sakura, still arms cross, leaned on the frame of the door, thinking. The blank expression gave it away.

"Hey, Naruto!" she yelled before he entered his vehicle.

"Yeah?" When he saw her face, he knew she was thinking over her words. "What's up?" he asked, flipping his keys around in one hand.

With one long stare and a large intake of breath, she opened her mouth. "Is there something wrong with Sasuke?"

* * *

Itachi had finished up his own breakfast long after Sasuke had left. Too much filled his mind and all he wanted to do was erase it, thus his eating pace was affected. Sipping his coffee every once in a while, he stared off outside at the trees and the hammock in their backyard. The way its beige ropes swayed with the wind made it seem like someone was already sitting there, rocking leisurely. It felt nice not to think.

Standing up, he took his plates back to the sink and began to wash them. As he rolled up his sleeves, he noticed a faded mark on his right arm, just slightly near his elbow. Suddenly, his entire mind burst into thoughts again, just when he was relaxing and trying his best to blank out his brain.

He left the faucet running as he went over to the mirror in the near by washroom. Releasing his right arm from his sweater, pulling it out from under the cotton material, he revealed a long mark to himself that traveled from his elbow over his shoulder to his shoulder blade.

A tattoo or what was left of one. It was a dragon whose scales made out to be like clouds and its eyes were lines upon lines circling around each other, like a target. Hypnotizing as it might have been once, now the whole thing dulled against his skin with all the once defined lines meshing with each other. Still, the eyes could not be erased.

"Akatsuki, the one mistake of my life comes back to haunt me."

* * *

Naruto had left about half an hour ago. He hadn't really answered her question. The only thing he said was that he wasn't going to say anything. Since his words weren't any help, she tried to find an answer in his eyes and on his face. The smart bastard kept his face clean of anything that could give him away. All he did was smile sincerely before he drove off.

"Stupid, stupid." She mumbled. Sitting once again on her couch, she continued to watch her movie. It was almost over, she could tell, but as for the storyline, she wasn't paying attention. Biting her lip, she sat with both her arms and legs crossed. It never even occurred to her to go and grab the blanket off the chair she had set it on earlier.

"Sasuke, what am I going to do with you?" she whispered. Sighing, she remembered back to all the things they had gone through together. It started with a slap in the face; one simple encounter led to everything else. Then came the tutoring that was obviously meant to irritate her but not once when she got to know him did she really want him to go away. That clearly led to her helping him with his chores and going to the concert.

Just then, she remembered the first time she'd ever seen him collapse in pain. She could still see him clasp at his chest in agony like it was just yesterday. Now thinking deeply into the thought, she knew something very bad was happening to him, but if it was really that bad, he would tell her, right?

To clear all of the negative thoughts away, she remembered one more thing—the visit to that secret courtyard. What a surprise that was. Despite him being badly injured and exhausted, he still managed to think up one more thing that made her heart leap and skip a beat.

Unexpectedly, the doorbell rang again.

"Sakura, honey, could you please get that? I'm kind of busy up here, cleaning up the washroom!" Her mother yelled from the second floor having finished her laundry already.

"Yeah, ma, got it!" Sakura got up, groaned after accidentally hitting a bruise on her leg on the edge of the coach. "Ow! Ow!" she hissed, limping lightly towards the door.

Unlocking and opening the door, she was minutely annoyed at the fact that there was no one there for her to meet, but looking down, she saw one single red rose.

"Huh?" Bending down carefully to pick it up, she searched her front yard and porch, trying to find out who had left it. In her search, she managed to notice another single red rose on her porch railings just before the stairs led down to the backyard. "Hm…" she mused. She closed the door behind her as she continued to follow the trail of flowers.

As she made her way down the steps onto the stone trail that led to the back of the house, she let her eyes wander on the look out for other roses. Her eyes did not fail her as she saw another at the end of the path. The sun shone on it, giving it a heavenly glow.

Upon picking up the beautiful flower, she heard a very familiar voice she had been longing to hear. "You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get those three flowers." What a handsome voice he had.

Silently but inwardly smiling, she tried to find the source of the striking voice. She walked onto the grass. "What are these for?" she called out, hoping to play a little Marco-Polo.

"For you, duh." _'Behind the tree.'_ She guessed as she moved for a tree with a large trunk.

"Well, but I'm assuming there's more, unless there's a different meaning behind these flowers." She was getting closer and closer with every step, careful not to make too much noise. All the while, she really did think about the message and her heart jumped with excitement. But she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Oh, good. I didn't think you'd get the message right away."

Creeping slowly, Sakura inched towards the trunk. Without warning, she whipped to the other side, only to find more tree trunk. "What?"

With a gasp, she felt two arms slide around her waist, gentle but fast, catching her way off guard. She was so stunned she couldn't even turn around. All she could feel was his head lightly set onto her left shoulder.

"And I thought you were still in bed." She whispered, still holding the roses tenderly, being careful not to prick herself with the thorns.

"I wouldn't trade this for sleeping." he boasted. "But what I'm worried about is whether or not the message you're thinking about is the same message that I implied."

"What was the message you were thinking about?" she asked, trying to keep her wild heart still.

"It started off with a kind of jump start to the day. Had some breakfast, went out and got some coffee, grabbed a couple flowers from this crabbing old lady who wouldn't open a couple hours earlier than usual, drove around a bit…" he trailed off. They stood together like that for a long time, each not minding the other's company. They had fallen into this state where the morning light seemed just a little bit brighter and the clouds looked that much fluffier. Even the breeze seemed to be in their favour as it caressed their bodies into this dream like lull.

Then, gradually, Sasuke wrapped his arms around her a little bit tighter. He felt her place one free hand on top of his and rubbed lightly with her thumb. They were so peaceful like that. No worries or problems of any kind in that particular moment. Their minds cleared, bliss of the sort that let them drift off into a state of serenity.

Sasuke moved his head a bit and kissed her shoulder. "I love you." He whispered.

She hadn't been ready for him to speak. The lightning spark that was left on her shoulder kept her thoroughly distracted. Her mind spun, not believing what she had heard, but at the same time, her heart burst. Her thumb stopped moving while her last intake of breath stayed in her throat. Turning around gently, she felt his arms loosen just a bit only to rest linked together at the small of her back.

"You think you could say that one more time, while I'm paying attention?" she asked, looking him right in the eye. He knew she heard him but was happy to know she wasn't afraid to hear it again. He never expected her to say it back or even feel the same way so hearing that made him the happiest man alive.

"I love you—" Right then, she tenderly kissed him. She had set the flowers aside and let her outstretched arms rest on his shouldering, connecting her fingers at the ends. She broke away briefly afterwards and rested her forehead on his, both their eyes closed. But both had this indescribable smile plastered on their faces.

"Here I thought you didn't want to date anyone." He said, still smiling, never lifting his head away but he did pull her closer to him. She released her fingers and curled her arms around his neck, letting one of her hands soothingly run up and down the back of his head. The tips of her fingers played and created patterns on his skin.

"Who said that?"

"I don't know, you kinda gave me that feeling." His words triggered her memory of the dance.

"Sakura! Who was that, dear?" bellowed her mother. Sakura could hear her voice come out from one of the open windows of her home.

"Ugh, she's going to freak if she doesn't find me in the house." It pained her to think that she'd have to break from their embrace soon.

"Right, wouldn't want that." After the sudden event, she didn't know what to think anymore. There was still that problem that Sasuke wouldn't mention anything about and Yukiko disappearing, but she couldn't summon the power to think about those things when he was around. For now, she wanted to be worry free. But soon, she knew she'd have to face them. This was just a detour that would indefinitely bring her back to reality.

* * *

**A/N: So i think i kinda owed it to you guys to put up another one before school started for me again. Knowning me i'm going to have a busy new year with all the stupid finals. Anyway, hoped you guys liked it! Reviews as always!**

**- --writingzeaL**


	12. Realizing

_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 12: Realizing**

She was still missing.

It had been a good month and two weeks since that incident in the science wing, but Sakura could still see the broken glass, the scattered chairs, and those unforgettable eyes like a broken film that would replay over and over again in her mind. They would sometimes sneak into her dreams and even haunt her there.

It wasn't like she didn't do anything about it. She had told the police everything she knew – everything from when Yukiko took her aside to when her world went black. Of course it was a painful recollection of her past but it had to be done, for Yukiko's sake. But the longer the investigation took, the more she began to lose hope, the more the images in her mind worsened.

If she really wanted to, she could make it like it was her fault. She was, after all, the only other person that could've saved her, that could've protected her. But what use was it to blame herself? It wouldn't help anything. She instead chose to put her faith in the police and hoped for the best.

That was the least of her worries, however.

The dance had been a great success nonetheless, but like all other gossip, this piece of news spread like wildfire throughout the school. People would give weird looks in the hallways and some would dip to other's ears with secrets she'd rather not know. Yukiko's group was the worst. They felt so much misery that they thought it would be best to take it out on others. They had charged through the school day after day looking for victims to prey on to ease their pains. It took a while for it to die down, but boy was it a hell of a fire, one that took more than just a little water to put out. Now all they did was sulk in their small group, waiting for their leader's return.

For all that she'd missed at school and all the time she took to get her life back together, a lot of things had to be taken care of. One of those things was the play. When she'd gotten back, the production had already been scheduled for a set date the very next week. The drama teacher had people step in for Sakura and Sasuke during their absence hoping they would come back in time to take back their roles, but unfortunately, it was too late to just jump back into it. Instead, they gave up their parts to the two very nervous substitutes but they had done pretty good for last minute step-ins.

The volleyball team had missed their captain greatly and, although the season was nearly over, they welcomed her back with open arms, resuming practices and regular schedule like nothing happened.

As for their individual friends, Ino had gone berserk thinking her friend was either dying or dead. She complained a lot about how Sakura hadn't informed her enough and was kind of pouty for days but that blew over soon enough. Now she was just as bubbly and cheery as she was before. Sakura was just glad to have her best friend back.

Sasuke, on the other hand, still had Kiba on his tail. Shikamaru had told him that he tried to deal with it but apparently, he was going to stay a grouch for a little while longer. Not like he minded it. He knew he could deal with him if the need came.

And of course, Naruto was back to being his best friend, his brother.

However, Naruto was taking his time getting used to Sakura. They still had some awkward moments here and there but he was doing okay. Little by little it was getting better, in Sasuke's opinion. He was glad he was putting the effort in and trying. It actually made him smile. He never thought he'd see the day when his best friend would try to get along with his girlfriend.

Girlfriend.

That was going to take a little getting used to, he thought.

"Wow," he said quietly.

Both he and Sakura were sitting on the edge of a fountain in the middle of the city park. The sun was high in the sky, beaming down with scorching heat. Sakura was holding a cup of ice cream that she scooped her spoon into every now and then to get a taste of the frozen goodness. It felt good on such a hot day to having something chilly to eat. His, however, sat empty beside him with the spoon moving with the breeze.

"Hmm?" she said, her spoon digging into what was left of the vanilla. Bringing his gaze up to hers, he stared with soft eyes as a smile crept onto his face. "What?" she asked.

Without warning, Sasuke swooped in with a quick kiss on her lips, grinning as she jumped. Pulling away, he took in how she looked at him. There was confusion and question but also an amused twinkle in her eye with a slight curve of a smile. Her hair swayed gently framing her face.

"Did I miss something?" she titled her head curiously.

"Nope, nothing at all. You done?" He stood, taking his empty ice cream cup with one hand, while taking Sakura's hand with the other, bringing her up along with him. Nodding, Sakura motioned over to a nearby garbage bin.

"Chino!" he yelled out towards the flock of birds. Out popped a tiny puppy head yelping with a strong high pitched bark. "Come on, boy!" Running on tiny legs, the dog came happily, bring along a whirlwind of a tail wag.

Bending down quickly, Sakura fooled around with the excited animal while Sasuke dumped the two cups into the trash can. "Where to now?" she asked with a chuckle as Chino licked at her fingers.

Breathing in the fresh air and stretching like a cat, Sasuke let his hands slip into his pockets, giving her question some thought. "Where should we go?"

"It's a really nice day out today. We should enjoy it while it lasts. How about we just go back to your place, park the car, and take a long relaxing walk around your absolutely gorgeous neighbourhood? That sound good, Chino?" Chino barked with approval as she scuffled up his fur.

"That sounds perfect."

* * *

In his car, with the windows all the way down, Sakura watched people blur by and buildings and trees grow and shrink through her shades. The music that played continuously one after the other just fit with the outsides scenes – nothing but sounds that made her feel like perfect was more than just a word.

Chino was running back and forth madly in the back seat from window to window. Sasuke paid no mind to his dog's wild antics and instead simply laughed.

His laugh, Sakura noted, was something he let sound more and more freely. Before, she remembered, it seemed impossible to get a straight out and heart felt laugh from him that wasn't mocking or teasing. Now it came so openly.

It always surprised her to find him looking at her with such affection as he did just then as he intertwined their fingers together over the arm rest.

As much as it made her feel special to have him see her the way he did, there was also a small part of her that still wondered about him, about the things he doesn't tell her. Of course he had the right to keep things to himself and she respected his choices. It just infuriated her to feel like she was disrespecting that choice by getting a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach.

He would tell her when he was ready, right?

But how long could she wait? How long would her patience last? It wasn't like what he was hiding was insignificant either. For heaven's sake, she had seen him collapse. He may look fine at the moment but she had this instinctive feeling like he wasn't at all like he looked.

She had her hunches. She was very fond of hunches. Her's were usually close if not on spot. But this was like trying to look through a window with a thick covering of frost. She was smart enough to know that it was a serious thing. Discovering that he had a personal doctor at the hospital helped strengthen that fact. Even the medical papers she found under his bed were proof enough of some severe medical problem. She just wanted to know if it was something she should be concerned about. Collapsing, she thought, was something to be worried about.

She hadn't confronted him about it before although she knew she should have. But she knew that if she spoke a word of this to him, he would simply brush it off and completely avoid it. That was the kind of vibe she had coming from him long before they got to know each other. On the other hand, now that they _were_ together, bringing it up should've been easier, right?

She squeezed his hand gently.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked through his own shades, which she found made his face that much more attractive.

"What? Oh, nothing." She replied with a chuckle.

Sasuke could see there was something troubling her. He couldn't pin point it exactly but he just knew. She'd been acting like that more and more often lately and it was starting to worry him. But whenever he asked, she would always avoid it or say there was nothing to worry about. He always took it as the latest traumas and Yukiko's kidnapping that had her acting like such, yet his gut feeling said otherwise.

"Liar. You've got something on your mind." He pouted.

"No, really it's nothing. I was just thinking about the investigation, that's all."

"You shouldn't worry too much about it. They're doing all they can. You know all we can do is wait." There it was again, the same excuse, he thought.

"I know. Sometimes it just slips back inside, you know?" How long could she keep her real thoughts and feelings from him?

"Yeah, I know." He said gently. "But you sure there's nothing else on your mind?"

"Nothing." She said, shaking her head.

"Really?"

"Really."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Laughing, she playfully pushed at his head with her free hand.

"Okay, okay." He himself couldn't help but grin as he raised their tangle fingers and gave the back of her hand an affectionate kiss.

Still, unfortunately, the nagging in both their minds stayed.

* * *

"I told you, I'll meet you there." Itachi said into the phone he held tightly to his ear. His eyes spoke of nervousness and slight stress but he was not one to show such weaknesses, especially in his voice.

"Yeah, but you know the boss. He doesn't trust anybody, especially not you my friend. Then again, you did turn your back on us for the last couple of years. That's enough to tick anybody off, even me. I've known you since we were kids, man. But that was some shitty stuff you pulled off, you know that? We were partners, man. How could you turn your back on us so easily?" said the dark eerie voice on the other end.

"Well, I'm coming back now, aren't I? I made a choice back then, and I'm making a choice now. Like he said, once a part of Akatsuki, forever a part of Akatsuki. It's part of me now and always will be, you know that."

"Don't tell me your reason for leaving was for that pansy ass brother you've got? The sick one?" With not so much as a twitch from Itachi, the voice snickered. "Geez, you've gone soft. Who would've thought the Great Itachi would fall so low." Laughing again, the voice snapped into a cheery mood. "But you know what? I'll put in a good word for you. Hopefully that'll be enough 'cause really, it's been way too long, Itachi – far, far too long."

Itachi had feared as much but that's what he was aiming for right? He was fighting for a way back into Akatsuki, a way to get the girl out – if she was still alive that is.

"So, listen. I was going to ask you about that kidnapped girl." Itachi questioned. "You haven't said much about her lately and she was an important catch."

"Well, we finally got a separate room for her. Really, man. The girl bites like a rabid dog. She needs something to keep her mouth shut too. Damn, I don't know how much longer I can take the freaking screaming and yelling. Why does the boss have to dump her on us? Why can't those low-lifes downstairs take care of her?"

_'So, they haven't got him yet, Yukiko's father.'_ He thought.

"What abo—"

When he heard the front door open and close, Itachi jumped as he slammed the phone down back into its place.

Sasuke and Sakura had just gotten back from their little stroll around the neighbourhood and were ready to settle down into a good movie.

"Itachi! We're home! Watching a movie!" Sasuke announced.

Itachi didn't answer. Instead he got dressed and trudged down the enormous staircase with his keys in hand. He found the couple cuddling snugly together watching one of their many action flicks. They were spread lengthily over the couch, lying with Sakura's head gently resting on his chest, arm slung over his torso. Itachi saw that Sasuke was drawing patterns up and her arm lazy. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought Sakura was asleep if she hadn't moved to get into a more comfortable position.

Yeah, he left Akatsuki for his brother and he wasn't ashamed. Seeing him enjoy what little he had left of life made him think he made the right choice in leaving. But now, he was going back and he was starting to think he was being a total idiot for not telling his brother of his plans. He knew he was the only one who knew where the girl was. He didn't want any credit, no. But he just wanted this trouble to be over. Besides, he had a score to settle with Akatsuki himself.

And, he thought sadly, needed a way to redeem himself. Sasuke didn't know but Itachi knew perfectly well that their parents didn't just die in any old car crash. No matter how conventional it sounded, it wasn't true. But it was good enough to keep Sasuke from asking questions.

"Itachi, where are you going?" Sasuke asked, snapping Itachi back from his own world.

"I'm just gonna head out. We ran out of milk." With that, he swiftly made his exit into the warm evening air, not even waiting for a response.

"All…right." Sasuke found his behaviour a bit odd, but hey, there've been worse.

"Does he always do that?"

"Not for milk." Sighing, he closed him eyes. He was savouring the moment. Even with loud gun shots and screaming and yelling from the TV, he found that he could just lie there till morning.

She listened to his slow steady heart beat through his green shirt. It was like a beating drum that she found oddly hypnotising.

"What are planning on doing after graduation?" she asked. It was kind of a random question but she realized she hadn't asked before.

"Hmm?" he mumbled.

Lifting her head, she saw that his eyes were closed. "You're not even watching the movie."

"I was. But this is much more relaxing. But," he opened one eyelid, "what's with the question?"

"Well, I mean I'm just curious and it's almost graduation."

Closing his eye once more he sighed. Was there even a world after graduation for him? "I haven't decided."

"Really? Are you going to take a year off? Some people are doing that. I think Ino might." She rested her chin on his chest. He idly opened his eyes and looked down at her vibrant green ones.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Ha, I haven't decided either actually. I thought I could get some inspiration from what you were gonna say but that plan backfired."

"What? You don't know what you're taking? Miss Perfect, volleyball captain, student council member, straight A's Sakura doesn't know what she's doing?" He earned a playful face smothering, courtesy of Sakura's hand. He laughed quietly.

"Shut up, Bad Boy. It's a hard decision. "

"How about a policeman?" Sakura made a face, although the idea of having her own gun appealed to her. "A journalist? An accountant? A fireman? A waitress?" He grunted, laughing as she gutted him with her left hook.

"Are you trying to be funny?" Her bottom lip jutted out as a slim crease formed between her eyebrows. "Jerk."

"Awe, poor baby."

"Gee, thanks. Next time I think about my life, I'm keeping it to myself. Come on, get up, I'm hungry. I'll fix something up from whatever's left – milk or no milk."

Sasuke laid there as she pushed off from the couch and slipped her way into the kitchen, humming an anonymous tune. As he took a good look at her, he noted that he must've been in way deeper than he thought if a simple pair of sweats and a baby fit shirt that clung to her body was all she needed to have him gluing his eyes to her.

Letting his body sink into the couch again, he wanted to just drift off listening to Sakura's oddly soothing humming. It transfixed him – to say the least. It reminded him of the time he took her mp3 player during their school dance shopping spree for decorations. He'd heard her humming a tune along with very skilful piano playing in the background.

In fact, that was the reason he asked her to spend time with him on this particular day. He had a small surprise he wanted to show her. It was something he'd been working on for the past couple of days. He'd borrowed her mp3 for that very purpose.

Sitting up, he stretched all of the kinks out before he shot up and made his way to the kitchen. It was now or never, he thought.

As he entered, he clarified that he was really in over his head – watching her fix up a sandwich, her back facing him while she hummed quietly, her shoulder length pink tresses curled at bits near the ends just perfectly. Evidently, she hadn't noticed his presence.

"You," Sasuke breathed into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, "are going to have to come with me." He smirked against her cheeks at her sudden shudder.

"When did you—"

"Just follow me." Taking her by the hand, he pulled her along towards the staircase.

Sakura obliged, following on very shaky legs. Damn it Uchiha, she thought. "Where are we going?"

"My room."

"W-what?" They were now on their targeted floor making their way down the hall.

Stopping right before his door, Sasuke turned to face a very puzzled Sakura.

"You do know I still have your mp3 right?" he asked.

"Um, yeah. But what does that have to do—"

At that moment, he opened the door and all her thoughts were stopped in their tracks. She saw his bedroom, the same as it was any other day – bed neatly fixed, the floors clean and just enough clutter here and there to signify that he wasn't obsessively clean. She didn't see what was so special.

"What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"Just sit for a sec, I'll go get it." He walked over to his computer, touching the mouse bringing the machine to life. After a few clicks, a piano could be heard playing. It was her song. "I used the finished one with the lyrics, if that's okay." He made his way to sit behind her on the bed.

She sat and listened to the all too familiar chords play elaborately in an intricate intro. Then – like she knew she would – her voice sang out in the very words she poured out onto a simple piece of scrap paper on an afternoon very much like the one they were in that very moment. She remembered writing of unforgettable sunny mornings, fearful nightmares, tears and scraped knees. There were even some mentioning's of burnt apple pies and holes in both socks. It was a special song, one she held dear to her. She was fine having Sasuke listen to some of her things but she was curious as to what he did with this one particular song.

The first verse was coming to an end and she could hear something that she knew she didn't put into the song – a guitar.

It was Sasuke. He was playing along with her and – to her shock – singing along with her as well. And he was exceptionally good. Harmonizing along with her melody, the song was put onto a whole new level. The chords he'd used blended perfectly with the piano in a way that just fit.

She was absolutely astounded.

She had written that song for her father who'd passed away when she was younger. The song was kind of a reminder of her life as she remembered it with him. It signified her father and everything he was.

Now, when she listened to it with Sasuke singing along with her, it triggered something she couldn't explain. It wasn't a bad feeling. On the contrary, it was the most wonderful feeling she'd ever felt. It even had her remembering every little thing Sasuke had done for her in the past couple of weeks. Everything from the small comforting gestures to the meaningful kisses and embraces she'd gone without for far too long.

Yet, he did this for her. He knew she cherished this song like it was her child. He knew how much her father meant to her. She even smiled at the thought of him actually singing and playing guitar. She knew that if she were to show this to Naruto, he'd throw a hissy fit. But he still did it and now she had two reasons to cherish this song.

Turning to face him, Sakura's eyes stung. Sasuke saw this and, with immediate concern, he sat up to take her face in his hands to wipe away the first fall of tears.

"You're not supposed to be crying. Geez, it's supposed to cheer you up."

As she looked up, Sakura saw his eyebrows angle in that adorable way that guys do when they don't know what to do. She released a waterlogged laugh, putting her hands on his wrists, keeping them where they were as she leaned into one of his palms. Her eyes danced with the light.

"I love you." She whispered.

They sat, just as they were, for a moment. She had never said it to him before, yet Sasuke had felt its very meaning behind every syllable. His insides were doing back flips.

It was Sakura who took the initiative as she leaned in and kissed him so tenderly that his back flipping insides turned to mush. Such gentleness carried the firm sureness of her words.

She had never been so confident, so certain of her feelings. She felt different, like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. For the past few weeks, what they had going was great, to put it simply but this topped it off, like adding that little bit extra to everything they did up till then.

Still playing on, the song drifted in the atmosphere, hovering above.

* * *

**A/N: well there it is. it was definitely not worth the crap of a long wait you guys had to go through. sorry. but now that its summer break i think i'll have plenty of time to write xD. hope you enjoy!**

**- --writingzeaL  
**


	13. Redemption

_**.:For Eternity**_

**Chapter 13: Redemption**

He stared up at the ceiling while the hands of his clock ticked just past two in the morning. The thrum of crickets could be heard just outside his cracked open window, adding to the peacefulness of the moonlight streaming through the slit of white curtains. The song they had listened to all afternoon had finally been put to rest.

One of his arms curled behind his head. It had long since grown numb, prickling under his skin with sharp needles.

He'd laid awake thinking and feeling, both of which were causing his mind to spin. It didn't help either that the very subject of his mind's clutter lay with her head resting on his chest, breathing slowly and deeply. She had one leg wrapped around his, bringing an odd sort of comfort to him as she snoozed.

Sakura hadn't gone home that day but instead stayed with him just too purely enjoy each other's company. They'd talked more about her father, the song being an ice breaker for the topic, and sure they'd had a few intermissions between conversations, getting carried away with a simple kiss but nothing rated for exclusive content.

The one problem was her mother. She was definitely going to be looking for an explanation. They hadn't warned her of her sudden sleepover but he figured they'd deal with it in the morning. Besides, he didn't want to wake her.

Because of the latest events of the day, little nagging voices had been whispering to him from the back of his mind. He tried to push them away for they only reminded him of how much of a coward he was. Being too chicken to tell the girl you loved about your serious health condition definitely fell under the category of coward, he thought.

Did he think he'd fall this hard? No, he hadn't the slightest idea.

But how could he tell her now? It was inevitable that she'd be absolutely devastated. If he'd told her when she hadn't meant so much to him – like the first time she'd tutored him for example – then things would be different. He knew it. He knew that the lack of relationship would have left them room to manoeuvre around the issue. Of course she'd be shocked or maybe a little bit concerned, but he knew that he would've been the same old sick boy that everyone felt compelled to pity.

Shifting, Sakura's body gave a short tremor at the breeze that slipped into the room. Taking advantage of the moment, Sasuke quickly moved so that he had his chest was facing her and his arm wrapped around her for warmth. Sakura's head laid comfortably on his other arm as her trembling came to a stop and her breathing went easy.

His eyes softened as he looked at her face. How peaceful she looked and how right it felt with her there. She just fit.

She smelled of the beautiful spring mornings with the dews of a light rain settling on the petals of blooming flowers. It was a scent that had him wishing he could've known her sooner. It made him regret the days he hadn't known her but also had his insides jump at the thought of being with her now – being able to make great memories of what time they had left together.

In sleep, Sakura snaked her arms around him as she snuggled in closer, leaning her head into the crook of his neck. With a long, contented sigh, Sakura settled in once more.

He'd tell her, he decided. He'd tell her first thing in the morning. She had the right to know and he would be the one to tell her. She didn't need to find out from someone else. He at least owed her that much.

Sleep soon took him, putting his chaotic mind to rest in the sounding of crickets and Sakura's deep breathing.

* * *

Itachi carefully closed the front door behind him. He searched for signs of life in his house, finding it was stupid to be jumpy in the very house he owned but he figured if Sasuke saw him now, he wouldn't be able to find the right way to lie.

He'd lied to him for longer than he wanted to admit. His deceitful side made himself known when Sasuke was merely a little boy, crying at the loss of his two parents. As an excuse to himself, Itachi made it so that he thought Sasuke was too young to understand the concept of death. Yes, that was the reason he had lied to him, he thought, repeating it like a mantra in hopes that it would spontaneously become the truth.

But it hadn't become the truth.

He watched as Sasuke grew with the belief that his parents died in a simple car crash. The drunk driver of a semi was driving thirty kilometres over the speed limit on a dark starry night. Their parents had gone out to a party in the town just an hour away and said they'd be back before dawn. It was a promise both boy's thought could be kept, but he knew there was one small part he kept out of it.

Back then, Itachi was a proud member of the Akatsuki. Young and naïve, he'd joined the notorious gang because he felt he had a home there, people to call brothers. Sure he had Sasuke and his parents, but his father was a strict, straight forward man who had Itachi's life all set, right from the get go. Sasuke had more flexibility because he was the second born, but being the first born had strapped him to a life of constant dinner parties and heaps of conference meetings. Even when he thought he had nothing to do, his father would come searching for him, making him do all sorts of this's and that's.

Sasuke, the baby, was left to coo and play with his piles of toys, totally carefree. He envied him and knew it was wrong. Sasuke was his baby brother.

After his parents left, he'd thought it would be great to go out riding with a couple of his buddies from Akatsuki. Sasuke had a babysitter, a nanny, or whatever else they called them. All he knew was that he would be well taken care of, with or without him.

Itachi stumbled up the stairs in the dark, lost in his memories, stubbing his toe and the edge of the landing. "Shit!" he hissed as the pain seared through his foot.

He noticed that Sasuke's door was slightly open. Reaching for the knob to close it, he felt a cold breeze drifting over his warm skin, giving rise to small bumps. The window was open, he thought. As he walked into the dark, he headed straight for the open window.

With a click, it was safely shut but turning, he froze as if the cold had intensified. Sakura? It's three in the morning, he thought. But it wasn't just her. Sasuke was there too, lying cuddled up against each other. Well, considering the chill in the room, he would've brushed it as keeping warm but there was something different. It was hard to pin down that something. Maybe it was the serenity on Sakura's face, like a weight had been lifted off her chest. Or perhaps it was the way Sasuke held her, with protectiveness, strength, grace, gentleness.

Running his hands over his face, he walked out of the room towards a hall closet that held extra towels and blankets. All the while thoughts screamed through his head. Coming back in with a beige blanket, he gently laid it over the sleeping couple.

He stood there for a moment.

Back then, he'd gone out driving, thinking it would be a great way to spend the night. His pals were as reckless as he, rebellious and unruly as well. But one suggested spicing up the night by taking in an order from the boss. One shot, they had said. That's all you have to kill their target.

Kill, he thought. He guiltily admitted it gave him a thrill to know he would be killing a sleazebag that night. He figured it was someone from the rival gang in the southern part of town. He had a score to settle with them anyway, which fuelled his intentions.

There, they said, pointing to a white car ahead of them – his parent's car. He could already see his mother's head through the back window and his father's hand adjusting his rear-view mirror. For an instant, the thrill clogged in his chest. Killing his father had been a fantasy. Never had he thought of actually doing it, yet there he was with a gun and a pack of killers.

No, he'd thought. This isn't worth it.

But they insisted he shoot. If he didn't do it, they said, they would do it themselves. Clearly, they didn't know of his relations with the man in the car. Stupid Neanderthals, he thought. They didn't ever think for themselves. They simply took orders and saw to it that they'd have a little bit of fun with it first.

Window down, air screaming in his ear, he aimed. It was a clear shot to his father's head. He'd used a gun enough to know his accuracy was ace. He could finish it, right then and there, escape his unwanted life and live the wild life he'd longed for without a care in the world.

But Sasuke's annoyingly small cooing echoed in his mind. No, he thought again. I can't do it.

Retreating, he refused to shoot, earning glares from his companions. Coward! one had yelled. At the speed of light, the one sitting beside him snatched the gun, aimed it out the window, finger on the trigger.

Itachi jerked, grabbing the gun but the shot had already fired.

Frantically, he looked out the window and saw that the bullet had snagged the tire. Relief swam through his veins. One shot was all they had.

However, as the white car swerved in and out of the lane, Itachi caught a glimpse of a semi heading towards them. The car he was in turned violently, driving off the rood and messily halting in a dirt patch. Itachi dashed out of the car, screaming for the white car to get out of the way.

Blinking, Itachi shook his head at the memory. Now instead of the blinding light of the semi before his eyes, he saw his brother with the girl he'd chosen to be his. He wasn't about to ruin what little time they had left. He'd redeem himself somehow, someway. And he'd do it alone.

"I hope you'll be able to forgive me one day." He whispered and left into the night.

* * *

With a soft groan, Sakura's eyes slowly fluttered open only to see flesh and a green shirt.

"Hmm?" her throat rasped at the effort to make a sound. She made the attempt to lift her head to get a better look at what was going on. "Sasuke?" she murmured. She saw – or rather felt – that his arm wrapped protectively around her body while his face scrunched at her movements.

Carefully, she tried to slip out of his hold. Inch by inch, she slid, really having a difficult time. She seriously had to go to the washroom but at that rate, she wouldn't make it, even if she ran out of his hold.

"Sasuke." She said with more urgency. "Sasuke, let go. I've gotta go to the washroom." She wiggled, pulling her hands in front of her, trying to push the boy off. "Come on."

Again, his face scrunched. "And here I thought I'd wake up peacefully." He mumbled with his eyes still closed.

"Okay, you're awake. Now let me go. I really have to go." But he tightened his grip with a playful grin on his face. "Seriously, Sasuke. I swear I'll pee on you if you don't let me go."

"Okay, okay." He laughed, opening his eyes slightly. "Good morning to you too." He gave her a kiss, long and lingering, before he let her go.

Sakura's spine crawled at the gentleness and ease of the kiss that she leaned over and gave him another. "Good morning."

Sakura practically flew off the bed as she ran to the washroom. The quick slam of the bathroom door had him flinching with amusement. Whoops should have let her go sooner, he thought.

Looking around, he quickly shot a glance at the clock on top of his drawer. It was a little past ten.

With shaky hands, he dragged them through his messy hair, remembering what he'd promised he'd do when the morning came. And he wanted to see through to it that he did just that.

Getting up out of the bed, he dragged his feet behind him, settling for making breakfast and easing his way into the topic. "Sakura! Does toast and coffee sound good to you?" he yelled as he made his way down the stairs.

"Yeah, that sounds great."

"Should I add some eggs?"

"Why not?"

"Scrambled or sunny side up?"

"Scrambled."

Funny, he thought as he smiled. She's in the washroom and this conversation sounds so normal.

"Coming right up." He shouted from the main floor already taking out a pan and some eggs.

As Sakura finished, she washed up and walked back into Sasuke room to grab her phone. Checking the screen, she saw that she didn't have any messages yet. "Huh, mom didn't call me. Maybe she called last night." She looked at the time. "Yeah, probably."

Coming down the stairs, she headed for the kitchen. "Sasuke, did my mom call—" The pan sizzled with oil on the burner while the eggs sat untouched on the counter. "Sasuke!" But right behind the center island, Sasuke's limp body lay unconscious with a cut on the side of his head. Evidence of his accident was splattered over the corner of the counter.

"Oh my god, Sasuke! Sasuke!" she ran and shook him, shock filling every inch of her body. "Itachi! Itachi! Shit, where are you!" her voice cracked in worry and fear as she dialled 911 in a panic she had wished her whole life she would never have had to feel.

* * *

As far as splitting headaches went, Sakura's was by far the worst ever. In fact, she would dare say it was the mother of all headaches. Splitting went to ripping then to completely tearing and shredding.

It had been a good couple of hours since she'd made her way to the hospital with Sasuke in an ambulance. She sat through the entire ride gripping Sasuke's white cold hand, the lifelessness in it scaring her. He was hooked up to so many machines and tubes jutted out from all sorts of places. All she remembered through her water-filled eyes were the paramedics frantically trying to keep his heart going.

She had never been so scared in her life.

Now she sat in the emergency room right beside Sasuke's bed shedding new tears as she gave him a once over. His hair was matted to his forehead with sweat that wouldn't go away no matter how many times she wiped them away. Long lengths of tubes connected to his arms while monitor wires hooked up to his chest. They hadn't even bothered to put on the hospital gown considering there were too many things connected to him. His face was far too pale and his breathing was dangerously shallow. It was like looking at a sick seventy-year-old man instead of a healthy seventeen-year-old boy.

Sakura had given up on the tissues and opted for a small clothe instead after finding that the first tissue box they gave her had been mowed through within the first hour.

What she found worse was the fact that she couldn't contact Itachi at all and she had to leave four messages on Naruto's phone before she gave up. Ino had just gotten her message but told her she was on the other side of the city. It would take her at least an hour to an hour and a half to get there, depending on traffic of course.

In the reality of the moment, she was completely and utterly alone. She had to sit there watching Sasuke breathe as if he was sucking air through a straw while monitors beeped madly and he would cringe in pain. There was nothing she could do to stop it.

She was lost and totally afraid, afraid that her assumptions were right. She knew there was something terribly wrong from the moment she laid eyes on the medical papers under his bed. But she hadn't known it was this serious. No nothing this severe had over come to her mind.

"Sasuke…" she whimpered with a voice lost in sorrow. She grabbed his hand, avoiding the complicated wiring, and squeezed. "I don't know if I should be mad at you or not, you stupid jerk." All her emotion jolted as she struggled to breathe, wiping tears with her sleeve. "Why didn't you tell me?" she could all but whisper now.

"Why you? You shouldn't even be here. You're young and so full of energy, you have a whole life ahead of you...how could this be happening to you?" Her chest ached intensely as each breath brought a new wave of sting that racked her body, a pain she couldn't ebb away. She kissed his motionless fingers and brought it to her wet cheek.

Sakura rocked quietly finding that it was the only way to ease the ache but only in the slightest as she watched his chest rise and fall in staggering patterns, the sweat sliding down his face.

* * *

**A/N: and another. but i duno if i can follow up with a third one just as quickly xD i'll try!**

**- --writingzeaL  
**


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